Dogs and Why Chocolate is a No NO
Feeding your dog can always be something we humans feel bad about. Your dog comes running up to the kitchen table or where you are cooking, sits there with their cute little eyes saying, "Food Please!!!" I know it is hard to resist but feeding your dog from the table is never a good idea for many reasons. One thing you really need to be careful when it comes to feeding your dog from the table is chocolate. Chocolate is addicting to dogs and if they get one taste, they are going to be sniffing it out until the cows come home. Here are a few questions along with their answers on why chocolate is no good for your dog.
Why is chocolate poisonous for your dog?
The Cocoa bean contains two elements, caffeine and theobromine. Both of these elements are toxic to your dog and can kill your dog if enough of these elements are ingested. Both of these elements stay quite a while in your dogs system as it takes the dog 20 to 30 hours to metabolize them. During this time, these two elements start messing with the dogs central nervous system and attacking the dogs heart and liver.
What are the levels of toxicity on these elements?
When these elements become extremely toxic the levels found are between 100mg and 200mg per kg of body weight. These levels are when the elements become toxic. There are however plenty of symptoms at lower levels of caffeine and theobromine. There have been proven cases where a dog might experience mild symptoms at 20 to 30 mg, and extreme symptoms at 4 to 50 mg, and seizures at 60 mg. So as you can see, a dog doesn't have to ingest 100mg of caffeine or theobromine to experience the poisonous dose chocolate can offer.
How much chocolate can my dog eat?
Well the short and sweet answer to this question is NONE. But if you have to know, it really depends on what kind of chocolate the dog has ingested. White chocolate contains the least amount of caffeine and theobromine while cocoa powder, milk chocolate and dark chocolate contain the most amount of caffeine and theobromine. Your dog would have to ingest quite a bit of white chocolate to see any kind of symptoms. However, your dog, depending on it's size, could ingest very little cocoa powder or milk/dark chocolate and potentially see lethal symptoms. Remember, 100mg per kg of body weight is a lethal dose of caffeine or theobromine.
How do I know if my dog has ingested chocolate?
The symptoms of your dog ingesting chocolate or very similar in the beginning to your dog have an upset stomach from eating grass or something it's body just plain doesn't agree with. usually however, you will notice signs of chocolate ingestion between 4 and 24 hours. Some of the beginning signs are throwing up, diarrhea, excessive thirst, increased urination, and restlessness.
One the dog has had more time for the caffeine and theobromine to work its way into your dogs system, you may see signs such as muscle twitching, hyper ness, increased heart rate, and a general lack of co-ordination. Lastly, these signs can lead to seizures, coma, heart attack and eventually death.
What do I do if my dog has ingested chocolate and I witness the above symptoms?
The very first thing you need to do is call your vet and tell him or her the kind of symptoms you are witnessing out of your dog. At time you are on the phone with your vet, you need to be looking around to find out what kind of chocolate your dog ingested as this will tell the vet how lethal the dose is going to be. You obviously then want to take your dog to the vets office. Most dogs will come back to their normal selves between 24 and 72 hours of being treated by the vet.
So what have we learned from this article? Do not feed your dog chocolate and try not to leave chocolate out for your dog to eat.
