Chocolate is toxic to dogs!

Help my dog ate chocolate, is it bad?

Chocolate letters and Christmas wreaths are part and parcel of St Nicholas and Christmas for many people. Unfortunately, chocolate letters and all other chocolate products are not good for your dog. It may seem like a delicious treat, but this is absolutely not! Dogs cannot properly excrete the components of chocolate after ingestion in the body. So how much chocolate already causes problems and what do you see in your dog when he has eaten too much chocolate? And especially what should you do if your dog has sneaked a piece of your chocolate letter or chocolate-lined Christmas wreath anyway?

How is it possible that a dog cannot stand chocolate?

Chocolate contains the substances caffeine and theobromide, which belong to the methylxanthines. In dogs, it is particularly the theobromide that they cannot tolerate. Humans are not affected by this theobromine, as they can convert and excrete it more easily and quickly than dogs. Dogs, on the other hand, take much longer to break down Theobromine. After eating chocolate, the theobromine is absorbed into the bloodstream through the stomach and intestines and then arrives in the liver. There, the methylxanthines are processed so that they can be eliminated from the body via the urine. Unfortunately, with these waste products, they are reabsorbed by the body into the bloodstream on the way out, creating a vicious circle in which very little Theobromine is actually excreted each time. So when there is a high concentration of Theobromine in the body, it will take a very long time for everything to be removed, while a very small amount can simply be excreted.

Is all chocolate equally toxic for a dog?

The purer the cocoa and chocolate is the more theobromide it contains, while white chocolate contains virtually nothing. The average amount of theobromine in dark chocolate is about 13 mg per gram, the amount of theobromine in milk chocolate is much less namely about 1.5 mg per gram. However, the better the quality of the chocolate, the more theobromine it contains. There are also chocolates that contain more than 25 mg and even a small piece can be toxic. Very roughly, you can say that 7 grams of dark chocolate per kg body weight will definitely cause symptoms of illness, while a dog can eat up to 50 grams of milk chocolate per kg body weight before serious symptoms appear. So it also matters how big your dog is whether he gets sick earlier or later. A large dog, before getting sick, can consume much more chocolate than a small dog.

What are the symptoms of chocolate poisoning?

The first symptoms usually occur after 4 to 12 hours after eating. The dog becomes restless, drinks and urinates more and may experience gastrointestinal symptoms such as vomiting or diarrhoea. These are the dogs that have eaten a small amount of chocolate relative to their body weight. However, when the amounts of chocolate or the content of Theobromine are greater, we see more serious symptoms. Then the dog becomes really sick and muscle tremors, seizures, irregular heartbeat, internal bleeding or a heart attack may occur. The disorders can cause the dog to go into a coma and sometimes even die from the disorders.

Unfortunately, when a dog is pregnant (pregnant) and eats too much chocolate, the toxins will also be able to pass the placenta and damage the pups. If too much methylxanthines gets into the pups then they will also often die.

What does the treatment look like?

Unfortunately, there is no antidote available against chocolate poisoning. Fortunately, the vet can often still get the eaten chocolate out of the body by making the dog vomit. This should really be done at the vet by means of an injection and especially not with all kinds of home remedies. This vomiting should also happen preferably within 3 hours of eating to prevent the Theobromine from already being absorbed by the body. So if you suspect your dog has indulged in more or less chocolate, always contact your vet.

If it has certainly been longer than 3 hours since your dog has eaten then vomiting will unfortunately no longer be sufficient, especially when symptoms of illness are already present. Then the treatment will focus on making the dog as comfortable as possible and getting the toxins out of the body as quickly as possible. Exactly what the treatment of symptoms will then look like is different for every dog and depends on the severity of the symptoms.

-This is an automated translation-