my dog ate chocolate..

**wolfsoul** · 04-01-2003, 06:37 PM

Any type of chocloate can be lethal. Baking chocolate is only the worst...
I found this on the net:

From Kirk and Bistner's Handbook of Veterinary Procedures and Emergency Treatment 6th edition.

The active ingredient in chocolate is theobromine:

The half life in the dog is 17.5 hours
The Toxic dose in the dog is 100-150 mg for every 2 lbs of bodyweight in your dog..

For a 50 pound dog, a toxic dose would be roughly 2.2 grams (2200 mg) of pure chocolate.
The concentration of theobromine varies with the formulation of the chocolate, therefore:
Milk chocolate has 44mg/oz (154mg/100gm):
toxic dose for 50 lb dog - 50 oz of milk chocolate.
9 Hershey's Kisses contain 91 mg of theobromine

Semisweet chocolate has 150 mg/oz (528mg/100gm):
toxic dose for 50 lb dog - 15 oz of semisweet chocolate

Baking chocolate 390mg/oz (1365 mg/100gm):
toxic dose for 50 lb dog - 5 oz of baking chocolate

Thus a dog eating one oz of baking chocolate would have to eat almost 3 oz of semisweet or 10 oz of milk chocolate to get the same dose of theobromine.
The theobromine in candies consisting of chocolate that is coated over some other substance - as in filled candies and chocolate coated dried fruits, etc. will be more dilute than that in pure chocolate bars and solid chocolate candies.
Obviously the chocolate in milk chocolate is quite dilute and this is why many dogs can eat a piece here and there and seem not to show toxic effects, how many dogs would get ahold of 50 oz at a time? This is not true of the more concentrated forms however. Dr Sue Bank's experience was that she had two dogs, a 95 pound one and a 60 pound one. They got ahold of 2 one pound bags of Nestle's semi-sweet chocolate pieces (a bag each). The 95 pound dog survived but the 60 pound dog ingested a toxic dose.
The problem with feeding a dog milk chocolate as a treat is that it develops a liking for chocolate and since dogs do not seem to be as sensitive to bitter tastes as humans - it may then eat the more concentrated, and thus quite toxic, baker's chocolate if it gets a chance or it will consume a toxic amount of milk or semi-sweet chocolate if it can get into a improperly stored supply.
Treatment which is best administered by someone with medical training follows the same strategy
as treatment for caffeine overdose:

**tikeyas_mom** · 04-01-2003, 06:38 PM

Did you know that 1 ounce of chocolate can kill a dog in half an hour? Well it is true.

**ramanth** · 04-02-2003, 09:01 AM

Originally posted by wolfsoul
Obviously the chocolate in milk chocolate is quite dilute and this is why many dogs can eat a piece here and there and seem not to show toxic effects, how many dogs would get ahold of 50 oz at a time?

Very true.

Kia once ate half a bag of little foil wrapped milk chocolates and I rushed her to the vet and the vet said she was absolutely fine.

Kia is a 50 lb dog. I'm sure if a Chi ate the same amount, it would get sick.

It all depends on the size of the dog and how much is consumed.

For my dog at least, a chocolate chip cookie or a hershey kiss that she manages to steal here and there will not hurt her.

I do not keep bakers chocolate in the house. That surely would make her sick or kill her.

**lv4dogs** · 04-03-2003, 08:46 AM

Sorry if i was wrong, but 4 1/2 years ago my old boss (a vet) , 3 other vets, mayself & a couple other vet techs did a lot of research into it & found Baking chocolate is deadly, but the other chocolates were not "deadly" but if aten in very large quantities or just depending on the individual dogs system they could pose a threat to the dogs life but no more than eating the same amount of other people foods. You see for ex. a chi eats a bag of hershey kisses it would probably become ill but if it also ate a bag of doritios it would still get ill, a chi's stomach can't even hold that much food & it is not the proper food for a dog so of course it will become sick. Again I am sorry if I was wrong as they discover new things everyday & the last time I studied it was almost 5 years ago. I am going to check out some more new info on it. I will try to get a hold of my old boss to see if we can find that info we found before on it. Thanks guys!