Besides being unhealthy, will eating a grape or a piece of chocolate kill a dog?

Question

My son freaks out if his pitbull snaps up a morsel of chocolate or cleans up a grape that has fallen on the kitchen floor. He says that either food could kill a dog. Is this true?

Answer 1

Theobromine poisoning or chocolate poisoning is an adverse reaction to the alkaloid theobromine, found in chocolate, tea, cola beverages, and some other foods. Cacao beans contain about 1.2% theobromine by weight, while processed chocolate generally has smaller amounts. The amount found in highly refined chocolate candies (typically 40-60 milligrams per ounce or 1.4 to 2.1 grams per kilogram) is much lower than that of dark chocolate or unsweetened baker's chocolate (over 400 mg/oz or 14 g/kg).

It has recently been confirmed that grapes and raisins can cause acute renal failure in dogs. The exact mechanism is not known, nor any means to determine the susceptibility of an individual dog. However one vet [1] believes it may be an acute auto-immune response to plant-borne viruses [2] in the same manner as FIP in cats. While as little as one raisin can be fatal to a susceptible ten pound dog, many other dogs have eaten as much as a pound of grapes or raisins at a time without ill effects. The dog usually vomits a few hours after consumption and begins showing signs of renal failure three to five days later.

Answer 2

Some of it depends on how much the dog eats. There is a certain toxic quantity of chocolate that is toxic - this would be a fairly large amount for a Pit Bull unless it were concentrated chocolate like baker's chocolate. But a few Hershey's kisses could do alot of damage to a small dog like a Chihuahua. Grapes/raisins are a different story. THe toxic principle has not yet been discovered, and many think it may be an mycotoxin that causes the problem. Some grapes and raisins won't cause a problem, but others can cause rapid kidney failure. It's best to stay away from these altogether.

Answer 3

Chocolate is toxic to dogs & yes it could kill them. The dark bakers chocolate is more toxic then milk chocolate. Some dogs, just like some people, can have a negative reaction on just a small amount where others could eat a lot and have no reaction.

Grapes also are toxic to dogs as are raisins.Again just like chocolate some dogs only need a small amount to have an adverese reaction while others could eat a lot with no ill effects.

I would recommend getting a list of toxic plants/foods from your veterinarian so that you wil lknow which things are safe around the dog and which things could be deadly. I would also recommend keeping poision control numbers handy by the phone.

Answer 4

Grapes can cause vomiting, diarhea, abdominal pain, and lethargy, but chocolate, coffee, and mushrooms can definetly kill.

Chocolate contains the chemical called theobromine; it is toxic to dogs in sufficient quantities. It all depends on what size your dog is and how much chocolate the dog got into. For instance, your sons Pit Bull could eat a packet of M&Ms and he would have no adverse affects, but if a Chuihuahua ate the same amount of M&Ms, then that would probably kill it, at the least make it really really sick. My husband and I have a Pit Bull also, and we don't let him have any chocolate so he doesn't get the taste of it.

Oh and also, FYI, raw onions are also poisonious; it can cause Hemolytic Anemia, laboured breathing, liver damage, vomiting, diarhea, and discoloured urine. Also don't give dogs coffee because that can cause staggering, laboured breathing, vomiting, diarhea, abdominal pain, tremours, fever, heart rate increase, arrythmia, seizures, coma, and death. . Mushrooms also can cause the same things as chocolate and coffee. So Mushrooms and coffee are just as bad a chocolate.

Answer 5

There is a chamical in chocolate, theobromine (spelling?)
that can kill a dog. There is more of it in dark or bakers chocolate and yes it can and has killed dogs.
So don't freak out if your dog gets a little but do not feed it to them on a regular basis.
My weimeraner weighs about 70 pounds and he stole a bucket of dark chocolate hersheys kisses and ate about 1/2-3/4 of a pound. Including the purple foil they were wrapped in.
He pooped purple for two days but was never sick at all. No vomiting and no diarreha. He is fine but I would not recommed it as something like that could kill a dog.

Answer 6

Chocolate in a small portion will not kill your dog. But it's true that in big quantities it Can actually kill it. The ingredients in chocolate have a very negative effect in a dog's nervous system and can cause the dog to pass away. Grapes hav no negative effects on a dog :-)

Answer 7

I keep hearing about chocolate, but I had a dog that ate a lot of chocolate and lived a long life.

So, I am wondering how bad chocolate really is.

Haven't heard about grapes though.

Answer 8

Grapes and raisins are not good for your dogs and can be toxic. If you are doing this, you are playing with fire. They have been known to cause renal failure and death. Why risk it? Milk chocolate in tiny doses is not bad for a large dog, but in a small dog can create problems. Dark chocolate or baking chocolate can be lethal in any dog. The best thing you can do is ask your vet before you give your dogs such treats.

Check out the ASPCA's site or my daughter's vet site and read more about it.

http://www.advancedanimalcarecentre.com/pethealthtidbits.html

Here's an article on it from the ASPCA if you want to read about it.
http://www.aspca.org/site/DocServer/grapes.pdf?docID=189

Answer 9

The darker the chocolate the smaller amount it takes to kill a dog. I don't think grapes will kill it but they are NOT good for them.

As for the peanut butter comment - all natural peanut butter is ok. I got a cookie recipe from my vet with that in it. But the regular kind of full of sugar and that is bad for dogs.

Answer 10

Grapes are fine. We have grapes and my dog LOVES them. She's ate them for years with no adverse affects. The only thing I can think of that would make grapes bad for dogs is perhaps small dogs might choke on them
Chocolate is very bad/dangerous for dogs. Never give them any!!