Hello Mr. Cecil,
I need to ask you a very important question! I know that you have talked about the matter of DOGS EATING CHOCOLATE AND HOW IT IS POISON FOR A DOG TO EAT. But, I am very upset to say, that my dog has just eaten about 5 to 8 bite-sized chocolate bars I had gotten for Halloween! They were in a bucket and he just chewed them out! I don’t know what to do for him! I know that I should contact a veterinarian but its 2:11 am in the morning. Hes only 20-25 pounds and is 3 years old. Well, my question is: What can I do for my dog to help him when he eats chocolate and I can’t take him to a vet?! I am keeping watch for any signs of poison. So far, he has just upchucked once. I keep given him ice and sometimes offering water. I’m not sure if that does any good. I hope you can help me. I more than greatly appreciate your time! Thank you so much. -Mayuka, Jacksonvile, FL
MODERATOR NOTE: Please be aware that this thread is from Nov 2004 - Jan 2005 until Post #17, when it is resurrected on Apr 10, 2014.
I’m not a vet but I recall a fairly recent thread where this was covered pretty good. The jest of it was that…most candy bars actually contain very little chocolate.
The amount of chocolate actually has to be a fairly large amount and real chocolate. Six bite sized pieces probably won’t harm the dog but if it’s been pretty recect you could induce vomiting. (wooden spoon>gag reflex)
I’ll see if I can find that thread or a cite.
My moms mini poodle stole and ate a whole BIG bag of M&M’s once. he acted a little hyperactive, and his heart rate got a little quick but it didn’t last long and he was fine after.
My dog once ate a very large box of Cadbury’s ‘Roses’ chocolates. He got them down off a table and ate the lot - including foil and cellophane wrappers. The only noticable effect at the time was that his shit was filled with lurid streaks of brightly coloured cellophane and tinfoil for a couple of days. I have shared chocolate with him in the past, though, as well - didn’t know it was bad for him.
My dog once ate a pound of See’s chocolate truffles. She was about 2 years old, and weighed about 30 pounds. She didn’t puke, but she was so hyperactive that the vet I called suggested I keep an eye on her through the hyperactive period. She was running from one end of the house to the other. Then she would scratch to go outside. She would run around outside. Then poop. Then I would bring her back in, and she would repeat. This went on for about six hours. When she finally did calm down, I gave her some water and she lay down and fell asleep. It appeared to be a natural sleep, so I went to sleep too. In the morning she was fine. Tired and a little dehydrated, but fine. I was relieved. That was a stressful night. Ten years later, she’s still healthy and alert.
I hadn’t known chocolate was potentially poisonous to dogs until that night.
I agree with the above posters that the chocolate you find in halloween food probably doesn’t have nearly enough theobromine to harm your dog. If you are concerned in the future, it doesn’t hurt to call your vet - although it will probably cost you about $200, but that may be worth it to you. If you don’t feel like doing that, you can try inducing vomiting with 3% hydrogen peroxide (the type you can get at the pharmacy). A good dose estimate is one teaspoon per 10 lbs body mass. If you chose to do this, definitely call your vet the next day for followup advice - excessive puking can lead to a metabolic alkalosis, which could be nasty if it gets severe.
Remember that on top of chocolate, pointsettas, onions, macademia nuts, coffee/tea and potentially raisins are all nasty things for your dog to ingest.
In case you’re curious, I’m a 2nd year veterinary medicine student who’s seen a lot of loving pet owners accidentally poison their pets. Also, one time (in front of a group of my friends from vet med who I brought home to meet my parents) I fed my Golden Retriever half a plate of Nanaimo bars, which are covered in chocolate so I’m going to argue that it happens to the best of us.
No, although a quick websearch reveals that it’s not the relatively-common knowledge I thought it was, so consider this anectodal: the nitrites and, to an extent, the MSG and other sodium compounds in hot dogs, make them bad news for doggies. My girlfriend had a dog who ate lots of Very Bad Things, including but not limited to a peach pit, a push pin, a pound of milk chocolate ( :eek: ), a bag of unpopped microwave popcorn including the hardened oils, candles, an entire wicker chair ( :eek: :smack: ) … all without any problematic symptoms. But the one time she got violently ill from something she ate, it was one hot dog and gave her colitis, blood and mucus in her stool, diarrhea and stomach cramps; and the vet, upon hearing that she’d eaten a hot dog, said “oh boy, bad news, never let a dog eat a frankfurter”.
my dogs get into chocolate from the holidays all the time and they’re fine…
and when i was only six i shared my chocolate brownies with my cat all the time, and she lived a few years with me after i’d stopped and my grandfather gave her away when i was at school…
he hates cats so he gave her away on me…he didn’t even frickin’ live with us!!
Nobody actually ever gives it chocolate, but a few times a year someone in the house is foregetful and leaves some chocolate out. And when they come home sure enough the dog ate it and is as happy as a dog could be. My dog loves chocolate so much that it actually got into a bag of those golden chocolate coins and unwrapped each one in order to eat the chocolate inside. She has never gotten sick from eating chocolate and seems to be fine when she does eat it. Oh yeah she also seems to like quiche
Bumping because Cecil’s column is back on the front page of the Dope.
We had friends whose dog was able to grab a big bag of chocolate candy off a kitchen counter while they were out of the room, and ate it all. Panicked, they called their vet, who ho-hummed and told them just to “keep him under observation.” Didn’t seem to hurt Fido at all. So I’ve always been a bit skeptical of all the hysteria about dogs eating chocolate.
Of course, “anecdote” is not the singular of “data”. You can find all sorts of evidence of people ingesting harmful substances and suffering no ill effects, but that doesn’t make the substances non-harmful.
In this case, it sounds like the chocolate was wrapped. If it was milk chocolate to boot, then it stands to reason that the threat might be deemed minimal, worthy of observation but not panic. As noted by Uncle Cecil, dark chocolate poses a greater risk.
Regardless, though, dogs certainly have died from ingesting chocolate.
Powers &8^]
My wife is a Veterinary Technician. In layman’s terms, a nurse for veterinarians. Our Doberman has gotten into lots of things. We do our best, but we aren’t perfect. More than once she ate a chicken bone, bad news bc it can perforate the stomach or intestines.
If you have a dog that is constantly eating things not meant for it, and you’re tired of taking it to the vet and paying the bill, try this first:
The easiest and cheapest solution is to buy a syringe (plastic, not one with a metal needle) or turkey baster, and some hydrogen peroxide. If your dog gets into something it shouldn’t…Fill the syringe/baster with peroxide and force it down the dog’s throat. You will have to hold its mouth open, bc they won’t like it and just drink it up. It should induce vomiting within 10 minutes or so. Take them outside or somewhere where the vomit won’t ruin anything. Try again if it doesn’t work after the initial dose. If the dog vomits, check for what he/she ate. Throw it away, obviously. If no success, take the dog to the vet immediately.
And to reflect on the chocolate thing…the darker, the more dangerous. A few Hershey Kisses or similar isn’t too dangerous. Cocoa powder is bad news.
Here is an interactive chart more or less estimating how toxic different types of chocolate are for different types of dogs.
For example, my 75lb mutt would have to eat like 4 pounds of milk chocolate before reaching a deadly dose. That is a lot of candy!
Also, I’ll point out that the first two symptoms bars (vomiting, diarrhea, and heartbeats) can go unnoticed by some owners. If it is an outside dog or a dog that goes outside frequently, the diarrhea could be missed. Also, the heartbeat… how many of you check your dog’s heartbeat regularly and know what to look for? So it is possible for a dog with mild toxicity to go unnoticed, hence people thinking “chocolate did nothing”. It did, you just missed it.
I know that you have talked about the matter of DOGS EATING CHOCOLATE AND HOW IT IS POISON FOR A DOG TO EAT. But, I am very upset to say, that my dog has just eaten about 5 to 8 bite-sized chocolate bars I had gotten for Halloween! They were in a bucket and he just chewed them out! I don’t know what to do for him! I know that I should contact a veterinarian but its 2:11 am in the morning. Hes only 20-25 pounds and is 3 years old. Well, my question is: What can I do for my dog to help him when he eats chocolate and I can’t take him to a vet?! I am keeping watch for any signs of poison. So far, he has just upchucked once. I keep given him ice and sometimes offering water. I’m not sure if that does any good. I hope you can help me. I more than greatly appreciate your time! Thank you so much. -Mayuka, Jacksonvile, FL
so I’m going to argue that it happens to the best of us.