Chocolate and Dogs

Chocolate can be very bad even deadly for dogs. I have attached a portion of the article found at: http://www.dogownersdigest.com/news/library/chocolate-dog-poisoning.shtml for your review. If a 50-pound dog eats a teaspoonful of milk chocolate, it's not going to cause serious problems. However, if that same dog gorges himself on a two-layer chocolate cake, his stomach will feel more than upset and soon it's likely he'll be vomiting or experiencing diarrhea. To answer the question "How much is too much" is not simple. The health and age of your dog must be considered. Obviously if your dog is aged and not in top shape, his reaction to a plate of chocolate is going to be different from a young healthy dog of the same weight. Another fact that must be considered is this: Not all chocolate is the same. Some has a small amount of theobromine; another type has a large amount and still another contains an amount that is somewhere in between. The quantity has a relationship with the weight of your dog. Small dogs can be poisoned, it is easy to understand, from smaller amounts of theobromine than large dogs. Which chocolate is the safest, relatively speaking? White chocolate. It has the least amount of theobromine: 1 mg per ounce. Far on the other side of the spectrum is baking chocolate, which has a huge 450 mg of theobromine per ounce! Here are a few other chocolates for you to ponder: hot chocolate, 12 mg of theobromine per ounce; milk chocolate, 60 mg/oz; and up there near baking chocolate: semi-sweet chocolate with 260 mg/oz.

There are chemicals in chocolate that can, in simple terms, dangerously overstimulate your dog to the point where he or she will become hyperactive, have seizures and could have heart arrythmias and die. Those are just some of the symptoms. Dogs don't metabolizes these chemicals in chocolate at the same rate as us humans do; that's why they're so dangerous. Different forms of chocolate have different levels of danger, and this is why you hear stories of some dogs eating chocolate their whole lives. Milk chocolate is the least dangerous, followed by semi-sweet and baking chocolate is the most dangerous! Baking chocolate should alway be kept in a closed container in a locked cabinet on a high shelf far away from your dog as it does not take much of this to harm your dog. Even though milk chocolate is not nearly as dangerous as baking chocolate, it's best not to give your dog any chocolate so that they don't develop a taste for it and accidently ingest too much of one of the more dangerous forms. Anytime your dog eats any amount of chocolate, well maybe except for the stray milk chocolate chip here or there, you should contact your vet for advice. Depending upon the type of chocolate, the amount and the size of your dog, the dog may need to be made to throw up immediately to help mitigate the toxic effect.

Well from what I have been told - apparently there is something in chocolate that would make any pet really sick and can actually kill them if they got a hold of enough of it. I don't know exactly what the ingredient is in chocolate that does this to them I just know that my vet has always stressed to us that you should never feed any of your pets chocolate or really any sweets.

chocolate is like a poison to dogs, wut makes us want it is a toxin to dogs! it'll give them heartproblems and heart attack it's a stimulant! don't test it! if u're real curious check out this site.. hope it helps

I dont think its wise to give choclates to dogs. I prefer to give other titbits such as meat (liver), something that most dogs do go mad for.

the actual answer told to me by a veterinarian is that the thiamine in the cocoa is very lethal! if they even lick the tiniest bit of chocolate from your finger or mouth or anything else, it can and most likely will kill you dog! Cats are even allergic to chocolate, not only dogs!

i don't know the real reason behind why dogs are forbidden to eat chocolates. but when i brought my dog to his vet the first time, i was told never to give my dog chocolates in any form. the veterinarian just said that it will weaken them first and if not treated soon, the dog might die. and it scared me a lot that's why i always tell my friends who own dogs, too not to give chocolates to their dogs.

An doctor told me that the chocolate makes dogs nervous or sad and without any fun.I don't give my dog chocolate but she found himself,so sometimes I give him a bit. Have a nice day and an healthy dog!

I don't know why dogs should'nt have chocolate either. I do know the little girl beagle I had for 12 years loved chocolate. ( she passed away from bronchitis) She would beg, or slip a bite anytime she could. It never hurt her as I could see. Maybe it's that they (like us) shouldn't have a lot of chocolate at any one time. The Field spandal I have now won't even take a bite if it was offered to him. I'm not sure why they can't have chocolate. I'm glad you asked the question. Maybe someone knows.