We all know (or at least I hope we all do) that you should never give chocolate to a dog. That being said; I have a greyhound. One day while the kids and me were out he ate a pound of chocolate. My youngest daughter thought it would be a good idea to hide it under her bed. We did not get back for a couple hours and had no idea he ate the darn stuff.
Now for my general question.
What is it about a greyhounds metabolism makes it possible for him to eat this much chocolate and have absolutely no effects what so ever?
Mostly that a greyhound is a good sized dog. Cecil’s article on the subject quotes a toxic threshold of 2 oz. chocolate per kilo of body weight. Your greyhound weighs what - 50, 60 lbs? Also, if it was milk chocolate, it’s got a somewhat lower theobromide content. Cocoa powder / baker’s chocolate is particularly lethal.
May not be the greyhound specifically. Some dogs can ingest chocolate and if they are big enough it may not cause any signs or may cause just some vomiting and diarrhea. Other dogs will get full blown neurologic signs. If a smaller dog ate that there would probably be problems. Dark chocolate and bakers chocolate are worse than milk chocolate. I have seen dogs have bad reactions to chocolate before so it’s not a myth by any stretch of the imagination. Only seen one die from it and he was only 3 pounds to begin with and the owners didn’t know it was a potential toxin until they found him dead.
Looking at some greyhounds up for adoption, I see weights between 55 and 100 pounds. They’re very slender dogs, especially when racing, but they are LONG TALL dogs.
I’m always amazed that retired greyhounds make such nice house pets, considering their lack of early socialization. My brother has two of these “45 MPH couch potatoes”, and they’re wonderful companion animals.
If I’m remembering our chart at work correctly, the ld50 on milk chocolate for a 60# dog is right around 5#. Dark chocolate and baker’s chocolate, as has been mentioned previously, have different toxic doses.
I have to say, though, it’s unusual for all that sugar to not give him the shits. Unusual, but not unheard of by any means. We once saw a yorkie that had eaten an entire bag of Hershey kisses (wrappers and all), with no ill effects at all. Some dogs just have a greater tolerance than others, I guess.
I wouldn’t count on him being this lucky a second time, though. Explain to the kids about keeping their candy out of snout’s reach (to prevent candy loss as well as to protect the dog), and keep a dog first aid kit around the house. If the dog eats something toxic like chocolate or marijuana or medications (other than those prescribed for him, in the prescribed amounts), you can save yourself a lot of worry. If it’s been within the last 30 minutes, you can induce vomiting by force feeding some hydrogen peroxide, and prevent most of it from absorbing.