Can Dogs Eat CHOCOLATE: Do you know that chocolate is a very dangerous food for dogs? In this article, we guide you on what to do if your dog has eaten chocolate and what amounts can be harmful.
What happens if a dog eats chocolate
Symptoms of chocolate poisoning in dogs
How much chocolate does a dog need to die or get sick
My dog has eaten chocolate, what do I do.
Dark chocolate is the most dangerous for dogs
My dog ate a chocolate cookie
WHAT HAPPENS IF A DOG EATS CHOCOLATE The chocolate is highly toxic to dogs because it contains theobromine , an alkaloid stimulant chemically related to caffeine in the nervous system. In small doses, it can cause vomiting, diarrhea, tremors and heart rhythm disturbances. In high quantities causes internal bleeding and the death of the dog.
Mild poisoning can end in a scare and a visit to the veterinarian, but if a dog ingests too much chocolate, the result can be fatal. This is because dogs metabolize theobromine very slowly, and they are not able to process it properly, as humans do.
Chocolate poisoning depends on the amount and type of chocolate you have eaten, and the weight of the dog.
If your dog eats chocolate, it does not mean that you should be a priori alarmist. The key to the issue is knowing 3 things:
how much chocolate have you eaten what kind of chocolate was it and
How much your dog weighs.
There will be a greater risk of chocolate poisoning for dogs the purer the chocolate, that is, the blacker it is and the higher the percentage of cocoa it carries. Do you think it is exaggerated? It is not, I personally know cases of dogs that were urgently admitted to the veterinarian after eating chocolate, because their owners were unaware of the danger of this food.
This is not the only harmful human food for dogs, you can read the others in toxic foods for dogs
CAN DOGS EAT chocolate Symptoms of chocolate poisoning in dogs These are the effects that chocolate causes in dogs:
diarrhea (in a case of mild poisoning a dog would only have diarrhea)vomiting
nervousness , dogs that eat chocolate run like crazyheart rate acceleration seizures or tremorsand in sufficiently high doses, chocolate in dogs can cause coma,
internal hemorrhages and even death.
How much chocolate does a dog need to die or get sick
How much chocolate can kill a dog? According to the Merck veterinary manual , approximately 55 grams of milk chocolate per kilogram of the dog’s weight can be lethal.
How much chocolate does a dog need to get sick? In a German shepherd dog of about 30 kilos, chocolate poisoning would occur with 1 kg of milk chocolate or 170 grams of dark black chocolate. For a 3-kilo chihuahua, 100 grams of milk chocolate or 17 grams of bitter chocolate would suffice.
In many websites, it is explained that chocolate is bad for dogs, but that said in no way can scare or alarm people and does not give you useful information, because the important thing is really to know how much chocolate is harmful.
That is, you have a chihuahua that weighs 3 kilos, an intake of 165 grams of milk chocolate would dog that weighs 10 kilos, eating 550 grams of milk chocolate could kill him.
If you have a small dog and eat a whole tablet of 100 grams of milk chocolate , although in principle it is not a lethal amount, you should worry and take it to the veterinarian, because it may be enough to poison you .
Remember that small doses of chocolate but continued are not good for dogs. Chocolate is a cumulative toxicant for them, and it takes longer than their chemical relative caffeine to be removed from the body. The dogs, unfortunately, are naturally attracted to this food, but really the chocolate is potentially very dangerous for them and is best avoided. So be very careful where you keep the chocolates for Christmas or birthdays, or the chocolate bars!
CAN DOGS EAT chocolate My dog has eaten chocolate, what do I do. It is true that chocolate is very harmful to them and should not be administered, but accidents sometimes occur. What do I do if my dog eats chocolate?
First, you must evaluate how much chocolate your dog has eaten
If you see that it is a high dose, or if your dog already has worrying symptoms you should take it urgently to the veterinarian. If in doubt, call your veterinarian and ask for his advice.
You must act as soon as possible , the speed of response is key to chocolate poisoning. It is worth knowing that your dog ate a lot of chocolate and take it to the vet 3 days later. You have to act as soon as you realize the situation. That is, as soon as you discover that your dog ate enough chocolate , call your veterinarian immediately.There is no antidote for theobromine , what is usually done if your dog has eaten enough chocolate to make it toxic is to cause the dog to vomit. Another additional treatment is to administer activated charcoal to help absorb the toxic substances of chocolate (here you can read more about activated charcoal for veterinary use ).
Can Dogs Eat CHOCOLATE
To cause vomiting to the dog, it can be done at home. This only makes sense if it has been a short time since your dog ate chocolate (that is, less than an hour and a half, but if it is less time, the better). If more time has passed, the call doesn’t try to make him vomit, call the vet.
The best idea to vomit a dog that has eaten chocolate at home is to use hydrogen peroxide H2O2 . That is to say, 3% diluted hydrogen peroxide mixed with water is used . If you don’t know how to do it or what amounts to use, read how to make a dog vomit.
CAN DOGS EAT chocolate However, use common sense, use this article only as a guide and if you think the case requires it or is serious enough, go to your veterinarian as soon as possible or call him, tell him the amounts and type of chocolate your dog has eaten And ask for his advice.
The poisoning chocolate in dogs is no joke and actually occurs. Veterinarians can do a stomach wash for your dog and give him some drug or the aforementioned activated carbon to absorb the toxic from his body.
Dark chocolate is the most dangerous for dogs Not all varieties of chocolate are equally harmful to dogs. So what types of chocolate are more toxic to dogs ?
Dark chocolate with a high percentage of cocoa is the most harmful for dogs ,
dark chocolate cover, which is usually used to make desserts and saucesand the cocoa powder itself, as they contain more theobromine than the other chocolate varieties.
Dark chocolate can have up to 10 times more theobromine and toxicity to a dog than milk chocolate.
On the other hand, white chocolate has almost no theobromine and therefore it is not only toxic to dogs , although since it has a lot of sugar it is also not advisable to give white chocolate to dogs.
CAN DOGS EAT chocolate My dog ate a chocolate cookie
What if my dog ate chocolate cookies, in a good amount? It all depends on the amounts of chocolate your dog has ingested, so if he has eaten a few cookies, the first thing you should find out is:
How many grams of cookies has your dog eaten
If they were milk chocolate or dark chocolate
Read the composition of those cookies on the packaging, to see how much chocolate they carried
This case usually worries the owners, but in fact, no matter how dark a cookie is,
they usually do not carry as much chocolate,
because they are made from flour and sugar.
Once you have determined approximately how many grams of chocolate you have eaten, and what type of chocolate it was,
you can apply the criteria for quantities that we have explained above. And as always. Be attentive to the state of your dog, how your body reacts,
and if you think the situation is worrying, do not stop calling your veterinarian. In cases of poisoning in dogs, the sooner we act , the more likely it is that the situation can be resolved favorably.
Tell us your case below in the comments, if you have experiences of chocolate and dogs. If this article has been useful to you, please share it on your social networks!
