Dear Checking: Chocolate is indeed poisonous to dogs. Your Rottweiler was lucky, I suspect, because he only ingested a small amount of chocolate for his body weight. However, any amount can be potentially fatal since the toxin stays in the bloodstream for several hours or days before it gets filtered through the liver.

The toxic ingredient in chocolate is theobromine, a natural stimulant found in the cocoa bean. Cocoa is found in chocolate candy bars and other human food products like hot cocoa powdered drink mix. But you can also find it in the strangest of places, like your garden, as some mulch contains crushed cocoa bean shells. So read your labels.

How much is too much?

Many times owners don’t actually see their dogs eat the offending chocolate. So if it goes missing and your best friend has a guilty look on his face, keep alert for symptoms that could take up to several hours to develop. These include vomiting, diarrhea, hyperactivity, rapid breathing, urinary incontinence, muscle tremors, seizures and even coma.

The highest concentration of theobromine appears in chocolate products in this order: cocoa beans, cocoa powder, plain or baking chocolate, dark chocolate, milk chocolate, chocolate drink mixes and white chocolate. As to how much is harmful, here’s a handy list provided by the website www.dogownersdigest.com.

White chocolate: 200 ounces per pound of body weight. It takes 250 pounds of white chocolate to cause signs of poisoning in a 20-pound dog, 125 pounds for a 10-pound dog.

Milk chocolate: One ounce per pound of body weight. Approximately one pound of milk chocolate is poisonous to a 20-pound dog; one-half pound for a 10-pound dog. The average chocolate bar contains two to three ounces of milk chocolate. It would take two to three candy bars to poison a 10 pound dog. Semi-sweet chocolate has a similar toxic level.

Sweet cocoa: 0.3 ounces per pound of body weight. One-third of a pound of sweet cocoa is toxic to a 20-pound dog; 1/6 of a pound for a 10-pound dog.

Baking chocolate: 0.1 ounce per pound body weight. Two one-ounce squares of bakers’ chocolate is toxic to a 20-pound dog; one ounce for a 10-pound dog.

At the website http://pets.robbiehaf.com/chocolate.htm you can find a good chart between milk chocolate and unsweetened chocolate amounts and at http://www.hersheys.com/nutrition_consumer/theobromine.shtml you can find theobromine amounts for Hersey chocolate products.

Poison Control

Help and Action

What to do if your dog has swallowed chocolate? Stay calm, induce vomiting if you have seen him eat the chocolate within one to two hours and call your vet. You can induce vomiting with Syrup of Ipecac or by giving a few tablespoons of salt or 3-percent hydrogen peroxide. Some vets recommend you give your dog activated charcoal to help absorb the toxins. Visit the ASPCA poison control center at http://www.aspca.org/site/PageServer?pagename=apcc for more information on how to treat a poisoned dog.

Lisa’s Pick of the Litter

For those of you with dogs recovering from surgery for a ruptured cruciate ligament – or two – here’s a company that builds ramps suitable for dogs to access anywhere. PetStep makes portable folding safety ramps to help pets make that climb. This product is great for older dogs with arthritis and to help preserve that ligament in younger dogs trying to jump into the family 4x4 truck.

For more information visit them on the web at www.petstep.com .

 

Lisa Peterson, a breeder and exhibitor of Norwegian Elkhounds, is a Delegate to the American Kennel Club. Ask Lisa questions at ask@lisa-peterson.com or Dogma Publishing, P.O. Box 307, Newtown, CT 06470.