7 Questions About Dogs and Chocolate
Posted by Clare Bristow
You've probably heard that chocolate can kill your dog - but do you know why chocolate is poisonous, which types of chocolate are more harmful than others, the symptoms of chocolate poisoning and the one thing that's more lethal than chocolate?
The following seven questions tell you all you need to know about chocolate and your dog.
Why is chocolate poisonous?
The cocoa tree contains two naturally occurring substances - theobromine and caffeine - both of which are toxic to dogs. Cocoa beans conatin theobromine a higher concentration than caffeine.
Dogs metabolise theobromine very slowly - it can stay in your dog's bloodstream for up to 20 hours. During that time it interferes with the body's functioning mainly stimulating the central nervous system and affecting the heart and kidneys.
What is the toxic level of theobromine?
The lethal dose for theobromine is between 100mg to 200mg per kg of bodyweight ; the lethal dose for caffeine is the same.
However, severe symptoms of theobromine poisoning may be evident at much lower doses .
According to the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals' Animal Poison Control Center, mild signs of poisoning occur in animals ingesting 20 mg of theobromine and caffeine per kg of bodyweight, severe signs are seen at 40-50 mg/kg, and seizures occur at 60 mg/kg.
How your dog reacts to swallowing chocolate will be a function of his size, general health, sensitivity to theobromine and caffeine, and the type and quantity of chocolate eaten.
How much theobromine and caffeine is there in chocolate?
The level of theobromine and caffeine in chocolate varies between the type of chocolate, the brand and the fact that the natural occurrence of these substances in cocoa beans is variable.
Broadly:
- White chocolate - 1.1 mg of theobromine and caffeine per ounce of chocolate;
- Milk chocolate - 64 mg of theobromine and caffeine per ounce of chocolate;
- Dark sweet chocolate - 150 mg of theobromine and caffeine per ounce of chocolate;
- Instant cocoa powder - 151 mg of theobromine and caffeine per ounce of chocolate;
- Unsweetened baking chocolate - 440 mg of theobromine and caffeine per ounce of chocolate; and
- Dry coca powder - 808 mg of theobromine and caffeine per ounce of chocolate.
So how much chocolate can my dog eat?
White chocolate does not contain very much theobromine and caffeine, and your dog would need to eat a very large quantity before he would be at risk from theobromine poisoning.
If we look at a 10lb (4.5kg) dog such as a Yorkshire Terrier and a 70lb (32kg) dog like a Labrador Retriever, the following amounts of chocolate would be considered lethal doses (if we take 100mg/kg as the lethal dose):
For the Yorkshire Terrier - approximately 7oz of milk chocolate or 3oz of instant cocoa powder, or 1oz of unsweetened baking chocolate or just over half an ounce of dry cocoa powder.
For the Labrador Retriever - approximately 3lbs of milk chocolate or 1.3lbs of instant cocoa powder or 7oz unsweetened baking chocolate or 4oz of cocoa powder.
These are approximate amounts only, but do show how lethal dark chocolate is compared to milk chocolate, and how small dogs are more at risk than large dogs.
Dogs get a taste for chocolate - they find the flavor of theobromine addictive. Even if your dog can eat small amounts of chocolate without any ill effect, don't give him a taste for it because he'll then try to sniff out and eat chocolate at every opportunity.
If you really want your dog to eat something that's like chocolate, you can always use carob which is a good alternative; here a link to a recipe for carob biscotti which your dog with love just as much as chocolate biscotti!
What are the signs of poisoning?
The symptoms of theobromine poisoning generally show within four to twenty four hours of your dog having eaten the chocolate.
The early symptoms include vomiting, diarrhea, excessive thirst, increased urination and restlessness .
As time goes on, and your dog absorbs more theobromine into his system, symptoms such as lack of co-ordination, muscle twitching, hyperactivity, increased heart rate and raised blood pressure will be evident .
These can lead on to seizures, coma, heart arrhythmia, hyperthermia, and ultimately death .
Even if your dog eats a small amount of chocolate, he may show signs of vomiting and diarrhea due to the high fat and sugar content of the chocolate.
What do I do if my dog's eaten chocolate?
The first thing you should do is to call your vet and describe the symptoms your dog is showing (if any) and the type and quantity of chocolate your dog has, or you think he has, eaten.
Your vet will need to treat your dog, but may advise you to make your dog vomit before bringing him to the surgery. This will reduce the amount of theobromine that's in your dog's body that he can absorb.
Most dogs recover within 24 to 72 hours of treatment by their vet .
Does this mean that cocoa mulch is toxic too?
Yes, cocoa bean shell mulch is very toxic to dogs - there is approximately 255 mg of theobromine per ounce of mulch.
For a lethal dose of cocoa mulch our 10lb (4.5kg) Yorkshire Terrier needs to ingest just under 2ozs (368g), and our 70lb Labrador Retriever just 13ozs (368g).
Dogs are attracted to cocoa mulch as it has a sweet smell. As your dog explores things of interest with his mouth, and being an indiscriminate eater, he could easily swallow a couple of mouthfuls whilst he's investigating where that lovely cocoa smell is coming from.
It's not easy to notice that your dog has swallowed cocoa mulch - you're not likely to spot a pound of mulch missing from the garden. Most deaths from theobromine toxicity are from the ingestion of coca mulch because owners aren't aware their dog's eaten it. By the time the symptoms show the dog has often suffered too much internal damage to be saved .
Keywords: chocolate toxicity and dogs, dogs and chocolate, symptoms chocolate poisoning, theobromine poisoning
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Hi,
Congrats for your blog, very nice!
Why don't you create a pet profile on www.pet-files.com? You can publish photos, videos and a lot of info (my profile: http://www.pet-files.com/marco80/mescal). And you can create a slideshow with your photo that you can easily embed into this blog! Hope you appreciate the idea.
- Marco
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I didn't know all this and my dog got into the chocolates (coated with cocoa) that were set out for the guests on my wedding day. I decided that we should keep him there with us so we could watch for signs of toxicity, which I assumed would be lethargy, confusion, vomiting- because I was too distracted and frantic to get ready for the wedding to take the time to take him to the emergency vet. He never showed signs of sickness that we could discern but he got really hyper- rolling around, running in circles, wouldn't sit down. This is a very mellow yellow dog.
After awhile if this we put him in the basement because he was being a nuisance but he got out without anyone noticing and the guests kids (without permission and after being told the dog was too high strung to play with today) took him into the other room to play with him without a single one of us grownups noticing and one of them was badly bitten. We put the dog in my mom's fenced yard while we rushed the girl to the emergency all the while thinking, "Wow, what's gotten into him?" we never thought it might be the chocolate. Shortly thereafter a young man put his hand into the fence to pet the dog and got bit too! My dog was a jumping, rolling, running around in circles, barking, biting mess and I never connected it to the chocolate. 48 hours later, he was fine. Back to his mellow yellow self, but possibly on death row. (We're not sure of his fate yet at this point.) Seems chocolate kills in more ways than one.
glad to have read this blog. my 10 lb pug just ate a 12oz bag of bakers chocolate and had vomiting and hyperactivity and restlessness and let me tell you i have never been so scared of loosing my baby pug. she is ok now but man it was nerverecking
Our dogs love carob. Nice and crunchy.I have never let them eat chocolate and it is good to have all the facts pointed out.
My dog was poisoned with chocolate. I want to thank your site for the only site I could find that shows symptoms that also include lack of coordination. My dog ate baking cocoa. I came home to this. She was acting drunk, falling and weaving.
Very important to get this information out that the lack of coordination is also a symptom to be aware of.
Fortunately, even injesting the whole can, she is doing alright as we speak. She is still at the vet, but her heartrate is down and they are administering more charcoal.
Very very dangerous. Do not give your dog any amount as then they search out for the smell.
Ohmygod!
I didn´t know this, and I´ve been giving my dogs tiny bites of my favorite milk chocolate(Chocolove hazelnut, that god it has LOTS of hazelnuts - hope nuts are not poisonous for dogs) for probably 6 months, probably what amounts to 5 grams daily! He´s a King Charles Cavalier, a year old, probably 18lb. He´s never gotten sick and is in excellent health. He is insanely crazy about the chocolate, he can hear between floors when I unwrap the chocolate! Whoa, I have to give him something else, I´ll try the carob. Thanks!
Ok I know someones going to call me a horrible owner
But I have a 120# pound black lab/mastiff that I give
Chocolate in small doses, say like a couple squares
Of a hersheys bar or a kitkat bar, and have never
Noticed any ill effects. And he doesn't seem to seek it
Out any more than anything else. In fact, it's the only thing
He seems to think of as a "treat", probably because he's pretty much
Fed everything. I've never noticed any change in his behavior, either.
After reading about chocolate and dogs. Im hoping that my 20k staffy chopper will be fine after eating chocolate from easter. thanks great info well done annemarie and chopper.
My 4 pound puppy ate a handfull of triple chocolate cake off my nephews hand. I didn't think much about it. Thinking as a child my dogs ate a bunch of crap off the floor. I'm nervous now after visiting diff. Sites. He's sleeping now and looks fine.
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So my boy Duke - a 1year old, 15 lb Jack Russell Mix - got onto my chair at the dining room table where I had about 15 tiny tiny chocolate covered raisens. He has gotten into the before but had no more than 5 and was fine. He is just acting like his normal self now. 5 minutes ago running around like crazy and now sleeping silently on the couch right next to me. I am worried but i think he will be fine. He, even without chocolate, exhibits all the symptoms except vomiting all the time. So not so sure about how I am gonna tell whether he is sick or just himself yet… We will see though.
Thank you so much for sharing this information! Especially now around the holidays, it's so important to be aware. People tend to leave fudge and other chocolate treats on the coffee table and places where pets can easily reach.
Always keep chocolate and other toxins out of reach of your 4-legged friends!
Thanks again for sharing
Thanks for getting the details out about the fact that it will take about 3lbs of chocolate to kill a dog. Imagine 3 blocks of butter worth of chocolate!
I have had dogs all my life and have always fed them a little bit of chocolate as a treat once a week. The last one lived to be 13 years old. The same dog ate an entire box of chocolates when she was a puppy.
I think like anything it's important to realize that everything can be in moderation. Did you know that chocolate can kill us? What about alcohol? Although it might not be the best idea to feed Dogs chocolate, it's not natural after all, i think it's important to get the word out that a dog consuming 1 oz of chocolate will not kill it.
I think my dog, a 8month 42lbs, black lab/Austrialian shepard/Rott mix, just got into some chocolate, cus i found aluminum wrapping next to his bed and one of the Christmas Stockings was ripped apart… He is one of the most mellow dogs in the world.. I am concerned now.. i had heard that chocolate was harmful to dogs, but didn't realize how harmful… I'm actually really worried.. i'm sure it wasn't much chocolate.. maybe a couple pieces… but now that i have read some of the postings.. i am watching him closer.. He's laying there on his "punishment pillow" in the corner.. but once in a while i catch kind of a weird twitching movement. i hope he is just trying to get comfortable… his breathing seems to be a little more rapid. than normal. .. Keeping an eye on my lil' boy…….
I had a female Brittany Spaniel that weighed approximatly 50lbs. I was given a 2lb solid chocolate bunny rabbit one year for easter. I left the chocolate bunny rabbit in the closet one day when I went to work. When I came home that night I noticed that my dog had eaten about two thirds of the that bunny. I had always heard about chocolate being bad for dogs but I'll tell nothing ever really happend to her. She seemed a little listless at first but other than that she seemed normal. She also lived to be 15 years old. So you never know do you!