My dog ate chocolate: what are the risks?
Most dogs love chocolate and are irremediably attracted to its sweet taste. Unfortunately, chocolate is one of the very toxic foods for dogs. Its toxicity is due to theobromine, a substance contained in cocoa which is responsible for its bitterness.
In dogs, this substance may cause:
- digestive disorders such as bloating, diarrhea and vomiting,
- nervous disorders such as anxiety, agitation or, on the contrary, prostration, movement coordination disorders (ataxia), convulsions and coma,
- heart and breathing disorders such as abnormal heart rate or rhythm, rapid breathing and/or difficulty breathing,
- his death, in case of serious poisoning.
The signs of poisoning appear between 1 to 12 hours after the dog ingests chocolate.
Signs of cardiac and nervous toxicity can appear from the ingestion of 60g of dark chocolate with 50% cocoa or 250g of milk chocolate in a 10kg dog.
There is a serious risk to the life of the same animal when the amount of chocolate eaten reaches 200g of dark chocolate or 500g of milk chocolate. In other words: a small 5kg dog is likely to die after eating only half a bar of dark chocolate!
Are all chocolates dangerous for dogs?
The severity of chocolate poisoning directly depends on the dose of theobromine ingested by the dog. It is both conditioned by:
- the richness of chocolate in cocoa and therefore in theobromine. The richer the chocolate is in cocoa, the more toxic it is for the dog. Thus, dark chocolate is more toxic than milk chocolate and the higher the percentage of cocoa in dark chocolate, the more toxic it is for the dog. It is enough then that the dog swallows lesser quantities to cause signs of intoxication. White chocolate, consisting mainly of cocoa butter and sugar, contains only traces of theobromine. Generally, it does not cause poisoning per se but all the same some digestive disorders or even pancreatitis due to its high fat content if the dog eats large quantities.
- the amount of chocolate swallowed by the dog,
- the weight of the dog. The smaller the dog, the faster it will reach doses of chocolate that are toxic to it. In other words, he will need much less chocolate to reach doses responsible for marked or even fatal poisoning.
Chocolate is therefore inherently toxic to dogs, regardless of the form in which it is eaten by the dog: in the form of a chocolate bar, assorted chocolate candies, cocoa powder, spreads containing cocoa, cakes or cookies containing chocolate and more generally any product containing cocoa.
Chocolate: watch out for chronic poisoning!
Giving a very small dose of chocolate to a dog will not make him sick immediately but if you give him this same small dose every day, it will end up intoxicating him little by little. This is called chronic poisoning. Also refrain from sharing the small piece of chocolate that accompanies your daily coffee with your dog!
My dog ate chocolate: what to do?
If your dog has eaten chocolate, IMMEDIATELY contact a clinic or veterinary practice, regardless of the amount of chocolate swallowed by the dog and regardless of the time the incident occurred.
Do not try in any way to make your dog vomit on your own initiative or to make him swallow anything else and gather information that will be useful to your veterinarian such as:
- the time at which the chocolate ingestion took place, or at least the time range in which the incident occurred,
- your dog's weight,
- the quantity and nature of chocolate swallowed. If you can, keep the chocolate packaging on which the percentage of cocoa in the chocolate ingested may appear to present it to your veterinarian.