URGENT!!!

[nicole_nicole]

hi and this is urgent...i need everyone's help....my 3kg white toy female poodle, age 1 year and 5 months accidentally ate chocolate...i'm staying at malaysia and there's no night vet clinics near my house....what can i do??!!

[nicole_nicole]

thanks everyone...my dog was so far so good....no signs of anything...she was still jumping around that night =)

[Ghilly]

What kind of chocolate did she eat?   Was it milk chocolate, dark chocolate, baking chocolate?  

The ingredient in chocolate that is toxic to dogs is theobromine.  It is more concentrated in dark chocolate than in milk chocolate, and baking chocolate has even more of it than dark chocolate.  

If your dog got hold of some milk chocolate, if there was only a bite or two, I wouldn't worry too much.  I would keep an eye on her, of course, but I wouldn't think it would hurt her.  If it was dark chocolate or baking chocolate I would be more worried.

If it was milk chocolate that she ate, a 20 pound dog would have to have eaten a whole pound of it to get enough theobromine to cause toxicity.  A 10 pound dog would have to eat half a pound to eat a toxic amount.  Half a pound is the equivalent of two to three chocolate bars.   If it was dark chocolate (like Hershey's Special Dark or Nestle's Semi Sweet) the amount needed to be toxic would be about half as much as would be needed of milk chocolate.  If it was baker's chocolate, only one small square of it would be needed to poison a 10 pound dog.

Keep an eye on her and make sure she's not panting excessively or urinating a lot.  If you see her doing either or these things, call a vet immediately, but if she just got hold of a piece of chocolate, say, a part of  a candy bar or something, she didn't get enough of it to make her sick.

Ghilly

[TwoBitsMom]

The best thing to do, would have been to try to induce vomiting within an hour of the dog ingesting the chocolate. But I see that this post is a couple of hours old, so...inducing vomiting may not help just because the chocolate may have left the stomach by now. Once the chocolate leaves the stomach, and enters the intestine, vomiting is no longer effective.

Now...The severity of your dogs reaction will depend on your dogs size, the amount of chocolate it has eaten and whether the chocolate was milk chocolate or dark chocolate.It will also depend on your dogs individual sensitivity to chocolate.
Milk chocolate is diluted and usually brings about a less severe reaction where as dark chocolate or the all natural chocolate you find in health food stores will have more potential for severe reactions or death..

Chocolate contains Theobromine and Caffiene. These affect the cardiovascular and nervous system of your dog.  The darker the chocolate, the more Theobromine and Caffiene it contains. So...

Watch for signs of toxicity / poisoning. Depending on the amount and kind of chocolate your dog ate, toxicity may start to appear quickly, ( within hours of ingestion, )... or even over the course of the next couple of days.
Signs include...vomiting....diarrhea...agitation...hyperactivity...muscle tremors...restlessness...and slow or fast heartbeat and possibly seizures.
Also, the toxins in the chocolate will act as a diuretic so you may see increased thirst and urination.

Contact your vet as soon as you can. Give them all the details..type of chocolate...amount you think she ate...her weight..and, Be sure to let them know if you are seeing any clinical signs of toxicity.
I hope all goes well.
Let us know how she is doing.
Connie

[meg321]

Exactly, its never the same..I think there is a substance in the chocolate that has different doses depending on the chocolate.  I think dark is the worse.

meg

[specialmom]

Yes, I think too that different types of chocolate will have a different effect.  Is it dark chocolate?  My sisters dog ate a whole bag of choc. chips---------- no issue at all.  Many a dog gets into the chocolate and doesn't show any signs.  That is true.  But to be safe, I'd check in with a vet.  

[meg321]

I remember that my mother in law who raised poodles would give them a piece of chocolate, it as kisses I think, that is when I first learned about types of chocolate and ho much they consume.

How much did your puppy eat?

meg

[meg321]

Hi, Can't offer more but a prayer.  It happened to me once, I was so scared.  My two opened a box of chocolates at Christmas.

I was ready for them being sick but nothing happened...nothing !

I believe there are some chocolates that are different than others...anyone else know ?

Keep us posted....I pray your puppy is fine ...

meg

[specialmom]

No, the salt water makes a dog vomit.  I mixed salt with warm water and my dog drank some on her own, then I squirted a bit down her throat.  It took not  much at all for her to vomit.  I did this under the direction of my vet.  I'd go ahead and call the animal place you menitoned. Call to be safe

[nicole_nicole]

i am not sure about the peroxide cuz i dont have it currently...she she already drank some water just now....if i feed her the salt water she might be bloated...

[specialmom]

You can induce vomiting if the chocolate was recently eaten.  You add salt to water and have dog drink it (even forcefully) and it doesn't take much to cause the dog to throw up.  

My dog accidentally ate children's chewable tylenol when she was a puppy while I tended to my sick child.  (child proof wrapping is no problem for a determined dog----  who had climbed on a table and gotten into my purse!) I freaked out and the vet had me induce vomiting which worked really well with the salt water.  You can do it with a small amount of peroxide as well according to my vet but I felt more comfortable with the salt water.

We then went through a whole treatment regime at an animal hospital as it had been an hour that she'd eaten the chewable pills.  And tylenol can shut down a liver or cause liver damage.

My dog was fine.  I hope yours will be too.