Dogs and Chocolate Toxicity

Let's discuss about dogs and chocolate toxicity. You love your dog and you love chocolate, unfortunately those two things do not mix. If you have chocolate in your house it is important to keep it out of reach of your dog. Chocolate can in fact be poisonous to dogs and sometimes leads to death. This article will explain some of the facts about dogs and chocolate toxicity.

Dogs love to eat and they have a great sense of smell so it's not difficult for them to find food. Be especially careful with chocolate. Put it up high in a cabinet, where your dog can never get it.

If you give your dog an M & M it's not going to die, however if your dog consumes a lot of chocolate or eats baking chocolate, it is likely to experience some very negative effects.

The type of chocolate, amount of chocolate, and weight of your dog all matter. If a larger dog and a smaller dog eat the same amount of the milk chocolate, the small dog is more likely to get sick. If any dog eats more than an ounce of baking chocolate they are very likely to become ill and have severe side effects.

Why is baking chocolate so toxic? It's not exactly the chocolate that poisons dogs, it's the caffeine and theobromine in the chocolate. Baking chocolate has more caffeine and theobromine than milk chocolate or semi-sweet chocolate.

If your dog eats a small amount of chocolate they may be okay, however if you find that your dog consumed chocolate and begins to vomit, have diarrhea, have seizures or experience an increased body temperature or increased heart rate, you should begin to worry and immediately take them to a veterinarian or animal hospital.

There isn't a magic medication that veterinarians have to get rid of chocolate poisoning, but veterinarians have the medication and equipment to help make sure your dog doesn't have cardiac failure, go into a coma, or die.

The information provided on this site is for informational purposes only and is not intended as a substitute for advice from your veterinarian or other health care professional. You should not use the information on this site for diagnosis or treatment of any health problem or for prescription of any medication or other treatment.