Post # 1
Member
5148 posts
Bee Keeper
One of our dogs has gotten into chocolate several times, a couple times he got into milk chocolate (which takes a lot to be toxic), but last week he ate 3-4 oz of baker’s chocolate (which is very dangerous). He’s only about 10 pounds, and as you can see on the chart below, that’s 3-4 times the “toxic dose” for him!
A toxic dose of chocolate:
- 1 ounce per 1 pound of body weight for Milk chocolate
- 1 ounce per 3 pounds of body weight for Semisweet chocolate
- 1 ounce per 9 pounds of body weight for Baker’s chocolate.
Source: http://www.talktothevet.com/ARTICLES/DOGS/chocolatetoxic.HTM
So here’s a Public Service Announcement of what to do if your dog eats chocolate:
- Make the dog throw up as soon as possible. Use an eye-dropper or baby medicine dispenser and give a few teaspoons of hydrogen peroixide at a time, until the dog throws up. I advise doing this in the bathtub so cleanup is easier. You may have to make the dog puke several times to get all the chocolate up.
- After all the chocolate is out of the dog’s stomach, make a slurry of powdered activated charcoal with some water or unflavored Pedialyte. Wash whatever you used to administer peroixide in step 1 and use this to make the dog eat the charcoal slurry. (You can get activated charcoal powder at most pharmacies or supplement stores. Make sure to get the powder, not the pills. Add this to your dog first-aid kit.)
And of course if you don’t catch it right away that your dog ate chocolate, or if there is anything alarming that your dog does (seizures, etc), always contact a vet ASAP!
Post # 3
Member
2008 posts
Buzzing bee
Oof! That’s a lot of chocolate for a little dog! I’m glad you caught it in time and thanks for the PSA!
Post # 4
Member
952 posts
Busy bee
We had to give our dog Hydrogen Peroxide when she ate rat poison. My childhood dog at boxes of chocolates that were wrapped under the xmas tree. She was fine!
Post # 5
Member
1486 posts
Bumble bee
My dog almost died from this recently, as you said it can be VERY serious. I think that because it takes “so much” a lot of people don’t worry about it enough.
Post # 6
Member
921 posts
Busy bee
id call a vet and double check. you can get advice free over the phone. my dog ate half a pan of no bake cookies once and (being 7 months pregnant and emotional) called the vet hystarical and she clamed me down and told me he would have had to eat the whole container of chocolate to be hurt. he was 13 pounds then.
Post # 7
Member
403 posts
Helper bee
my pomeranian climbed onto the dining room table and ate a box of valentines chocolates. we came home to find only foil wrappers on the floor. i was so worried and we called by brother in law who works at a vet’s office. he suggested the hydrogen peroxide and it worked. thank god!
Post # 8
Member
6394 posts
Bee Keeper
We used to leave candy sitting in a bowl at Christmas time and we came home and there were fun sized wrappers all over the house and my poodle-bichon mix was happily laying under the bed. We called the vet and luckily he didn’t eat enough to cause any damage, but I’m definitely bookmarking this page! It’s amazing what dogs can get into!
Post # 9
Member
858 posts
Busy bee
Thanks for the Public Service Announcement. 🙂 I prefer fruit flavored candies so hopefully it’ll never be an issue, but you never know.
On a related note, I heard that chocolate builds up in a dog’s system like a certain poison does to us (I think it was arsenic?) so if you occasionally give them a little something it can eventually kill them even though you didn’t give them a lot. Is this true? Can anybody confirm or refute this?
Post # 10
Member
3041 posts
Sugar bee
Just so you know, it depends WHEN the dog ate the chocolate. If it was within an hour or so its usually fine to do what you said (I have this under my “hide your chocolate bars” post) 🙂
However, if its been a few hours than having him throw up may do much more harm than good.
I would also ask your vet if there’s ever an emergency & you need phone counsil, do they provide it or recommend someone who does? Then, save that number in your phone & write it down. My vet has a line open 24/7… they answered at 2am Easter Sunday a few years ago & helped me & it was free. Not all vets have this.