Chocolate Poisioning In Dogs
by R.H. Henderson DVM: Eastside Animal Health Clinic 

With Christmas in the recent past, Valentines just behind us, Easter is fast approaching. Second only to Halloween, Easter is the time that we seem to receive the most calls about dogs eating chocolate. Apparently, chocolate Easter bunnies and chocolate eggs are a favorite amongst our canine friends.

The M.O. often is that while hiding Easter eggs the dogs help themselves to those chocolate ones that are not found, or they visit the basket and remove the  chocolate rabbits that are found there. Most cases, the foil that covers the candy is more dangerous than the candy, but if a dog eats enough, the results could be deadly.

Here are a few facts to help you if such an occasion should present itself to you this spring.

Theobromine is the primary toxin that is found in chocolate. It comes from the theobroma cocoa plant.  The lethal dosage of theobromine in dogs is between 250 and 500 mgs/kg or 114 to 227 mg/ pound. When you consider that milk chocolate that is found in a candy bar or Easter candy contains 44-60 mg per ounce, you can see that a two and a half pound dog could get very sick just eating your average bunny. On the other hand, a larger dog might not display more than an upset stomach. Some dogs are more sensitive to this drug/toxin than others. It is never a good idea to feed your canine friend chocolate in any form. One side note, baking chocolate (unsweetened baking chocolate) can have as much as 450 mg per ounce of theobromine. So a 10 pound dog eating an ounce of this stuff could be on for a serious problem

The first signs of chocolate poisoning are vomiting, diarrhea, and increased urination along with nausea. Often the signs will progress to cardiac arrhythmias and seizures.

If your dog eats potentially dangerous amounts of chocolate and you can get the pet to a vet within two hours, vomiting can be induced to remove the poison. Still, if more than two hours pass your pet needs to be seen and treatment started to prevent the toxin from causing damage if possible.

In short, the best idea is to keep the chocolate candy away form your pet, and to secure the more lethal baking chocolate in a location that is safe from the hounds.

You can direct your concerns to National animal poison information Center at the University of Illinois in Urbana at WWW.napcc.aspca.org or call them at 888 252-7387.

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