By Stacey Gonzalez
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With Valentine’s Day just past concerned pet owners are hiding their chocolates in a safe place far away from their animals. It is a bad idea to give just about any animal chocolate but when it comes to chocolate and dogs the combination can be deadly.
Although milk and white chocolate are slightly less potent than dark chocolate and baker’s chocolate, your dog shout not consume ANY amount of chocolate. Chocolate is made from cocoa which comes from cocoa beans. These cocoa beans contain caffeine and theobromine - a chemical compound that can seriously harm your canine.
Theobromine is what gives humans that buzz or ‘warm feeling’ they get when dining on some deliciously sweet chocolate. For some of us that feeling can last a short while but according to Denver veterinarian Kevin Fitzgerald, PhD for dog’s theobromine takes much longer to metabolise.
“The buzz we get from eating chocolate may last 20 to 40 minutes, but for dogs it lasts many hours,” he said in an interview with WebMD. “After 17 hours, half of the theobromine a dog has ingested is still in the system”
Dogs that ingest small amounts of chocolate may experience diarrhea or vomiting. But if a dog ingests toxic amounts of chocolate it can die from cardiac arrest. It may also experience respitory failure, seizures, rapid heart rate, high blood pressure, hyperactivity or tremors. Since baker’s chocolate contains close to ten times more theobromine per ounce than milk chocolate and more than twice as much as semi-sweet chocolate the effects are magnified.
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If your dog ingests chocolate get it to the veterinarian immediately. You can also give your dog ipecac to induce vomiting and try to get some of the chocolate out of its system while on the way to emergency.There are cases in which dark chocolate kills a canine, when in fact the theobromine dose is very low. This means that dark chocolate lovers should take extra care in hiding this year’s box of chocolates from their furry family members.
“So 20 ounces of milk chocolate, 10 ounces of semi-sweet chocolate, and just 2.25 ounces of baking chocolate could potentially kill a 22-pound dog,” Fitzgerald said to WebMD.
A general rule is that ‘toxic reactions can occur with ingestion of 100 to 150 milligrams of theobromine per kilogram of body weight.’ An article for WebMD breaks it down quite nicely:
•A 9-pound dog could be expected to show symptoms of chocolate toxicity after eating 1 ounce of baking chocolate, 3 ounces of semi-sweet chocolate, or 9 ounces of milk chocolate.
•A 27-pound dog might have such symptoms after eating 3 ounces of baking chocolate, 9 ounces of semi-sweet chocolate, and 27 ounces of milk chocolate.
•A 63-pound dog might exhibit symptoms after eating 7 ounces of baking chocolate, 21 ounces of semi-sweet chocolate, or 63 ounces of milk chocolate.
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Keep in mind that chocolate is toxic to cats and most other small animals. The only difference between those animals and dogs is that dogs are far more likely to eat chocolate.“Dogs experience the world through tasting it, and they are gorgers,” said Fitzgerald. “Baking chocolate tastes good to them.”
So while a cat may turn its nose up at chocolate and walk away, dogs are far more likely to discover this new smell and taste without thought of hesitation.
Pet owners beware- place those heart-shaped boxes in a good hiding place far away from your canine companions. If you are not careful your Valentine’s Day treat may become your pet’s worst nightmare.
