Chocolate Poisoning - Dog/Cat

[Savas]

Hey folks, this came up on the cat forum; I thought I'd post the answer here as well since it's dog relevant as well



Chocolate contains naturally occurring methylxanthines caffeine & theobromine. The concentration of theobromine is much higher than that of caffeine, but both cause toxicity in cats (and dogs).

Dogs are likely to be at greater risk, but mostly because they tend to eat more when they get their paws on it.

It acts as a diuretic and a stimulant, but has adverse effects on the central nervous system and can cause death.

Also, there is NO antidote. If poisoning occurs, get your pet to a vet asap, the best hope is to induce vomiting before it's processed into their system.

[Savas]

Now, why can't they just be invitin' the wee doggie over for a pint of the lager?!?!  That's jus' not neighborly!!! :)

[lonewolf07]

I've heard some bad things about dogs who eat chocolate.  When they come into the vet clinic, they do induce vomiting and "clean them out" with charcoal in some cases.  Some dogs seem to react worse than others.  We had a "pit bull" who ate an entire chocolate easter bunny and had no reaction.  Our Siberian husky ate a chocolate chip cookie and it made her sick.

We had a dog who loved beer.  She'd jump the fence and actually drink it out of the neighbors glasses.  I think she scared them enough to have them switch to Kool-Aid.

[Savas]

Well, here's the thing. The lethal dose is 150 mg per kg of body weight. A cup of joe has about 65 to 100 mg's of caffeine in it. So a 10 kg dog would have to eat the equivalent of (argh, hate math...) about 15 cups or scoops of coffee to do the deed.

We switched to decaf partly for this reason (bloody cats kept getting into our tea and coffee).
I suppose I should thank them, what with the health benefits and all... but most mornings all I can do is glare at my decaffeinated coffee and wonder just exactly how sauteed or grilled cat might taste. ;)

[sk123]

Luckily, my get-my-paws-on-anything Sammies don't have a penchant for chocolate. They do love coffee, though, and will sneak in some slurps of my coffee if I'm not looking. Since coffee has caffeine, is this also dangerous?

[tleetaylor]

My oldest once ate over a pound of Baker's chocolate, a dozen hot dogs and half a bag of pretzels. I seriously recommend Ipecac if you have a dog with a sweet tooth like mine. It's hard to watch them vomit, but it sure beats losing one that you love.

[peekawho]

Dark chocolate is more of a risk than milk chocolate, but the info is good for everyone.  I had a dog who ate over a pound of Hershey's Kisses once.  A trip to the emergency vet, vomiting was induced, and most of the candy, complete with foil wrappers, came up promptly.

Expensive lesson in my own carelessness.