It seems to be common knowledge that chocolate can make cats and dogs sick, esp. cats, but how? I’ve searched for the answer and found a lot of “Yes, chocolate is not good for animals”, but no one says why.
So I’m coming to you dopers to learn the reason.
As for all you cat-haters out there, no, I’m not going to experiment on my great friend, Cat.
Peace,
mangeorge
Wow, 00, I made it! 
I thought it had something to do with the alkaloids in the chocolate. Chocolate contains a lot of caffeine and theobromine and other stimulants and I believe cats’ and dogs’ metabolisms don’t tolerate these well.
My Child Is An Honour Student At Hogwarts
i was reading about this the other day, this is what it said:
“human beings, vegetables, or cosmic dust; we all dance to a mysterious tune, intoned in the distance by an invisible piper.” - albert einstein
We had a little dog, when I was a teenager, that loved Hershey kisses. He could be asleep at the other end of the house and you couldn’t open one quietly enough that he wasn’t right at your feet before you could get in your mouth. He’d do every trick he knew, without prompting, roll over, play dead, talk, beg, stand up, dance, everything, until you gave him one. He never semed to suffer and he would have lived off the things if we’d let him.
Yup, everyone is pretty much on the right track here. Also keep in mind that type of chocolate has a lot to do with how badly a pet will be affected. Baking chocolate is worse for animals than regular chocolate. You wouldn’t believe how swamped my hospital was with dogs who got into the holiday candy. Luckily, the worst any pet suffered was vomiting and diarrhea. One woman called to say her teacup poodle ate 3 or 4 assorted minibars and was displaying hyperactivity. I warned her of the danger her dog could get into but she decided to wait it out. ::sigh::
Once when I was out camping my dog (70 lb Dobie) took two laps out of a coffee cup I left on the ground. Within minites she was hurling like she had eaten a week old dead fish. (another story). I definately agree that caffine irritates dog tummies.
Thanks. Now I can keep all the goodies for myself with no feelings of guilt.
“Sorry, Cat, it’s for your own good”.
Peace,
mangeorge
Asprin is a cat killer too. They can’t rid their systems of it very fast, and it can kill them.
Aspirin can be used under a vet’s advice only. Tylenol is flat out deadly.
How come when I was a kid my dog got chocolate all the time. We shared many a birthday cake with him. He lived to be 15 and was a Collie.
And my cat was always getting into Coffee. Didn’t seem to affect her.
WHY?
I had a pet rat once who loved coffee…
The only chocolate my cats have gotten has been licking out ice cream bowls… never had a problem, probably because the amount is so tiny.
Isn’t chocolate worse for dogs than for cats, though?
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Teeming Millions: http://fathom.org/teemingmillions
“Meat flaps, yellow!” - DrainBead, naked co-ed Twister chat
O p a l C a t
www.opalcat.com
To be honest I don’t think I have ever seen a cat with chocolate toxicity, but it is still bad for them regardless.
Marxxx, to answer your question: you got lucky. One of the hardest problems we have in vet med is convincing people certain things are bad for their pets. “But doc, I give my dog chicken bones and steak fat ALL the time and he has never been sick before!” Trust me, if candy and other such things were OK for your pets, we wouldn’t spend so much time telling you otherwise. I don’t care if someone feeds their dog a pound of chocolate every day, one of these days their luck (and the dog’s) is going to run out. Just last night we had a dog in ICU who was there for getting a steak bone stuck in her throat. The dog had been getting them for years. When the owner called for an update, he told me that from now on it was MILKbones only! I’m just sorry it took his dog nearly choking to death to get him to learn this lesson.
PS: Chocolate in cake is way different from candy style chocolate (like Hershy bars and such). If the cake was made from a mix, there may not be any real chocolate in there at all. And don’t quote me on this, but I THINK cocoa powder (which is what is in many mixes) isn’t harmful. Now I am curious about this and I’ll have to ask one of my vets when I get to work tonight.
Came across this URL while net surfing, and thought some of you might be interested. Takes a while to get to the point, but does explain about DOGS and chocolate:
www.breeders.com/dmn/gooddog/page97.htm
It is the mark of an educated mind to be able to entertain a thought without accepting it. - Aristotle
I find it particularly disturbing that the author’s regular veterinarian was not able to provide information on chocolate poisoning.
Me, the Author? Cool.
I didn’t ask my cats vet because I never feed him chocolate. Purina is all he really likes. Maybe rarely a small piece of cooked chicken, but not very often.
Peace,
mangeorge
Uh, no, I was referring to the link above, posted by coosa. The link goes to an article about chocolate toxicity. The author approached his regular vet for info on the subject and the vet didn’t seem to know anything about it. Sorry for the confusion.
WAH!!! I wanna be an author. 
Peace,
mangeorge
Hey, mangeorge, you’re an author in my book. … Of course, I don’t have a book, but, oh, well, cheer up anyway.
(I try to set records for the maximum use of commas)