Chocolate and Your Dog
From BPSBR_Wiki
| You love chocolate. You love your dog. So you want to reward your dog with what you think is one of life's greatest pleasures, chocolate. STOP! Under NO circumstance should you feed your dog chocolate. Chocolate is toxic, and often fatal for dogs. |
Why is Chocolate toxic to dogs and not humans? Theobromine, a component of chocolate, is a chemical which you can digest but your dog can't and this can make chocolate deadly to your dog.
What does Theobromine do to the body? Much like caffeine, it is a Central Nervous System and Cardiovascular stimulant; it can increase blood pressure and bring on nausea and vomiting. Some symptoms that a dog may display are: excitement (including nervousness or trembling), restlessness, hyperactivity, hypersensitivity to touch, rapid heartbeat and breathing rate, loss of control of leg muscles, muscle tremor seizures, weakness, Vomiting / diarrhea, Excessive thirst, excessive urination, coma and death.
Some chocolates are more deadly than others. Unsweetened chocolate, sometimes known as Bakers chocolate, contains 8-10 times the amount of Theobromine as milk chocolate. Semi-sweet chocolate falls roughly in between the two for Theobromine content. White chocolate contains Theobromine, but in very small amounts. The size of your dog can also play a factor, the smaller the dog, the less chocolate needed to be toxic.
What should you do if you suspect your dog has eaten chocolate? Immediately call your veterinarian for advice. They will likely suggest that you bring the dog in right away. Be sure to grab any uneaten chocolate so your veterinarian can better diagnose the severity of the situation.
The treatment depends on the size of your dog as well as quantity and type of chocolate it has ingested. There is no specific antidote for Theobromine toxicity but treatment may include IV fluids, medications that induce vomiting, activated charcoal, anti-seizure medications and/or cardiac medications.
It takes quite a bit of time for chocolate to break down and be excreted in dogs, from 16 to 20 hours, so just because your dog ate chocolate while you were at work and seems fine now, does not mean that it is not going to affect them.
If you suspect your dog has eaten some chocolate and are unable to contact your regular veterinarian or an emergency veterinarian, call animal poison control hotline. There is usually a charge for this service (usually from $30-$50.00) so have your credit card ready or use a 1-900 number.
888-4ANI-HELP (888-426-4435), 888-232-8870, 800-528-2423 and 900-680-0000 are all Animal Poison Center Hotlines.
