Most dog owners know that chocolate is toxic to dogs, but the question is how much chocolate is bad for a dog?
When it comes to holidays like Halloween, Christmas and Easter, you might have chocolates laying on the table where you dog might accidently get at when you are not looking.
If they eat it how much of it would be dangerous and life threatening?
What part of Chocolate is Bad for Dogs?
The two chemicals that are toxic are theobromine and caffeine. They both will cause symptoms. The theobromine is more impactful and will last longer.
Symptoms of your Dog Eating Chocolate
The signs of toxic poisoning are panting, being restless, frequent urination, increased thirst, heart rate increase, diarrhoea, and vomiting.
Then when the chocolate poisoning is severe is when they start having muscle tremors, go into a seizure and finally heart failure.
How much Chocolate is Bad for a Dog before it is Toxic Poisoning?
Vets Now lists a chocolate calculator chart to show how much Theobromine consumed with the weight of your dog can be toxic.
If your dog got into chocolate, these symptoms will show up from four to 24 hours after eaten. You will need to look for the symptoms and get treatment immediately from your vet.
Dark chocolate will contain about 230 mg of theobromine per ounce and thus is more dangerous. Milk chocolate has 60 mg per ounce, and then any baked good with chocolates are even lower mg per ounce.
What to do if your Dog Eats TOO Much Chocolate
If you found out they just ate chocolate you want to look to see the amount they ate with the chart and the weight of your dog.
Dark chocolate is worse as it contains more theobromine than milk chocolate or baked goods with chocolate.
Then if they ate enough to be toxic you want to try and induce vomiting. Do this by getting a bottle hydrogen peroxide.
You need 1 teaspoon per 5 pounds of your dog’s weight and a maximum of 3 tablespoons. 3 Teaspoons make up 1 tablespoon, so the maximum dose for any dog that weighs more than 45 pounds is 3 tablespoons.
If the hydrogen peroxide works your dog probably will vomit in about 2 to 5 minutes after the dose. You want to see a lot of chocolate in their vomit and if you see the amount of chocolate in their vomit they will probably be okay.
If they don’t vomit after 5 minutes you need to call your vet or emergency animal clinic.
Also take your dog, regardless of whether they are a young or older dog, to the vet if they ate a large amount of chocolate.
