Everybody knows chocolate makes the world go ’round. You’d be hard pressed to find someone who DOESN’T love the stuff, even your dogs. But it’s no secret dogs & chocolate don’t mix. I’ve always known no matter how hard they beg, not to feed my little guys chocolate. To be honest, I really had no idea why, until now. Of course, chocolate is poisonous and can be deadly, but do you know the symptoms of choco poisoning or which types are more harmful? Claire Bristow at Dog Topics has a great piece “7 questions about Dogs & Chocolate”
“Why is chocolate poisonous?
The cocoa tree contains two naturally occurring substances - theobromine and caffeine - both of which are toxic to dogs. Cocoa beans conatin theobromine a higher concentration than caffeine.
Dogs metabolize theobromine very slowly - it can stay in your dog’s bloodstream for up to 20 hours. During that time it interferes with the body’s functioning mainly stimulating the central nervous system and affecting the heart and kidneys.
So how much chocolate can my dog eat?
White chocolate does not contain very much theobromine and caffeine, and your dog would need to eat a very large quantity before he would be at risk from theobromine poisoning.
If we look at a 10lb (4.5kg) dog such as a Yorkshire Terrier and a 70lb (32kg) dog like a Labrador Retriever, the following amounts of chocolate would be considered lethal doses (if we take 100mg/kg as the lethal dose):
For the Yorkshire Terrier - approximately 7oz of milk chocolate or 3oz of instant cocoa powder, or 1oz of unsweetened baking chocolate or just over half an ounce of dry cocoa powder.
For the Labrador Retriever - approximately 3lbs of milk chocolate or 1.3lbs of instant cocoa powder or 7oz unsweetened baking chocolate or 4oz of cocoa powder.
What are the signs of poisoning?
The symptoms of theobromine poisoning generally show within four to twenty four hours of your dog having eaten the chocolate.
The early symptoms include vomiting, diarrhea, excessive thirst, increased urination and restlessness .
Read the entire story and all 7 questions at Dog Topics
Source: Dog Topics, Image Source: Flickr
Bookmark to:
