What To Do If Your Dog Eats Chocolate?

(August 2, 2010)

Chocolates are a weakness for all human beings especially for those who have a sweet tooth and most pet owners ask “can dogs eat chocolate?.” But where it serves as a yummy treat to us, it turns into poison for your pets. Dogs are also very fond of chocolates because of which most pet owners might want to give chocolates to their dogs but it needs to be kept away from them as chocolate poisoning in dogs is very common. The primary reason for it being poisonous is because it contains a compound known as Theo bromine that belongs to a class of drugs known as methylamines. Theobromine can cause serious damage to the central nervous system, leads to nausea and vomiting, cardiovascular problems and so on. If your dog eats chocolate, it might cause its death because of their inability to digest theobromine and if they consume chocolate, it remains in their blood for over 20 hours. If your dog has eaten chocolate, you need to rush them to the veterinarian where they will try to make the dog throw up the toxin and this needs to be done within 2 hours of its consumption. After that, the doctor will keep them on certain medicines while under observation.

The question of is chocolate toxic for dogs depends upon the amount of chocolate that has been consumed by your dog. If it is anywhere between 100 and 150 milligrams per kilogram of the body weight, it is most likely to be poisonous for them. If chocolate is consumed in lesser quantity then, it will cause some upset in the stomach and may lead to diarrhea or even vomiting. The signs will worsen if the condition is serious and include a lot of excitement, feeling of nervousness and trembling, an increase in thirst, frequent urination, and muscle spasms and so on. In a rare case, it will lead to coma or death in your dog. The proportion of theobromine differs from chocolate to chocolate and milk chocolate contains relatively less theobromine as compared to unsweetened chocolate. Pet owners are bound to ask what to do if your dog eats chocolate and the best thing you can do is keep chocolate at a place that is out of their reach. Chocolate poisoning in dogs is possible but not in humans because the way our body digests and breaks down theobromine is far better as compared to dogs.

Read on can dogs eat chocolate