WAY OT! MY DOG ATE CHOCOLATE!!!
Luvs2go F.
on 3/13/05 1:33 am - Non-Op..........., WA
on 3/13/05 1:33 am - Non-Op..........., WA
Chocolate can be deadly to your dog. Theobromine, a substance found in chocolate and cocoa, is poisonous to animals. It diminishes the blood flow to the brain and can cause heart attacks and a variety of other life-threatening problems. An important rule is - the darker the chocolate, the more dangerous it is.
For a small dog (15 to 20lbs), approximately 8 to 12 ounces of milk chocolate, or 1 1/2 ounces of dark chocolate (baking chocolate)
is TOXIC!
Some of the symptoms of chocolate poisioning are:
restlessness
hyperactivity
muscle twitching
increased urination
and possibly excessive panting.
To all that read this and do not already know, there are also many other foods that can be dangerous to deadly to your dog also:
onions, garlic, liver, raw eggs, raw meat and poultry, mushrooms, coffee gounds/coffee beans, yeast dough, grapes, and raisins - just to name a few.
When it comes to your pet, its best to be on the safe side. Contact your vet or pet poision center if they have ingested something that may harm them.
LaKeitha-
The ASPCA has published several reports lately about the toxicity of grapes and raisins. Several years ago they started noticing a trend of renal failure and death in dogs that had eaten grapes. No one really seems to know what it is about the grapes and raisins that makes them so hazardous. For a while the experts were saying a few grapes every now and then would not hurt, this was warning was revised last year to a recommendation that grapes and raisins not be fed to dogs at all.
Here is a link to a report on the ASPCA Poison Control Center's Web Site about grapes and raisins. http://www
.aspca.org/site/PageServer?pagename=grapes
The ASPCA offers a fee based Poison Control service that is quite extensive. However, you can call the regular poison control number listed in the front of your telephone book and get some information about poisons as it relates to your pets.
(deactivated member)
on 3/13/05 2:18 am - Somewhere Else
on 3/13/05 2:18 am - Somewhere Else
Here's the facts....proves some people panic for nothing, it takes quite a bit of chocolate to become lethal to dogs. It is always best to avoid it nonetheless because if they develop a taste for it, they can get themselves into trouble.
There are many formulations of chocolate with varying amounts of caffeine and theobromine. The lethal dose of sweet milk chocolate for a dog is 2 oz per kilogram of bodyweight. For a 5 kilogram dog this would be about 280 grams. A lethal dose of milk chocolate for a 25 kilogram would be about 1.4 kilograms.
Dark chocolate is at least 10 times as lethal. A 25 kilograms dog could die from the methylxanthines in 5 ounces.
Symptoms include vomiting, hyperactivity, restlessness, hypersensitivity to touch ( a dog will jump when touched very rapid heartbeat and rapid breathing rate. A loss of control of leg muscles, muscle tremor seizures, general weakness, coma and finally death follow.
Figure, the half of the little cake, there is barely any actual chocolate in that....so, the dog would be more than safe.
Linda
268/156

I used to have a lab who was a bigger chocolate nut then I was. She was crazy about Oreo cookies and had to have them dipped in milk! Course I never gave them to her often and my vet knew she loved them. His advice....only 1 at a time and no more then 2 a month. I doubt that half of a little debbie's will hurt your pup. Now I'm craving Oreos!!

I work for a vet. This is the most called on complaint in our office. Happens EVERY day, no kidding.
Your dog is not going to die. Everyone always thinks that they will. Your dog would have to eat a LOOOOOT of it to hurt it. Like one of the post-ers said, your dog MIGHT...and I mean... MIGHT have a little bit of a loose stool, but probably not.
Don't worry. No biggy... take a breath.... your dog is fine.
-Heather