How bad is chocolate for dogs?

Question

I know chocolate is not good for dogs. I know they can get sick but I also heard that dark and Baker's chocolate are the worst. Any vets in here that can help with this?

Answer 1

2 squares of bakers chocolate can kill a labrabor (really!). It depends on what type of chocolate (dark, milk, white) and how big your dog is and how much he eats.

the problem is, different brands of chocolate also have different amounts of theobromine - some more, some less - so even less chocolate than what is written in toxicity tables can potentially kill a dog.
also, if your dog has any heart or blood pressure problems or any other problems that you are not aware of, it will also take less chocolate to kill him

i have seen dogs die from chocolate poisoning by eating only a few squares of milk chocolate..

symptoms are -
Excitement / nervousness / trembling
Vomiting / diarrhea
Excessive thirst / sometimes excessive urination
Muscle spasms
Seizures
Coma
Death.


the best thing is, dont give your dog any chocolate at ALL - there is no reason to.
.

Answer 2

Yes, it is true that dark Bakers chocolate is the most toxic. But any kind of chocolate can be toxic if the dog's eats enough. It is best to just stay away from chocolate All Together.

Answer 3

Ooh! I know this one! Sort of. A few years ago my darling female boxer (who weighed about 55 pounds at the time) ate an easter basket. I mean, the whole easter basket -- two packages of reese's peanut butter cups, a bag of m&m's, a package of rolos, two chocolate bunnies, and no less than seven cadbury eggs. All in about a twenty-minute time span while we were out. Needless to say, my husband and I were terrified. We called the vet, panicked. She said that most chocolate is going to take pounds and pounds of solid chocolate to really do any damage to a dog of her size. Smaller dogs would obviously take less. She said really only dark chocolate is the most worrisome, but even still, it would take a significant amount. She said if we were really concerned, we should make her vomit. Her suggestions: feed her a piece of really burnt toast. Which she ate happily. Second option: put a tablespoon of salt on the back of her tongue and make her swallow it. She stuck her tongue out but was otherwise unfazed. Finally, terribly worried I called the vet back and she said that the last option was to make her drink a tablespoon of rubbing alcohol. I think she liked it. We couldn't get her to throw up though. We felt a little better (confident that she hadn't eaten POUNDS of solid chocolate) but were still concerned... Finally, about seven hours later, she walked over to the corner of the living room and left a lovely chocolate-smelling puddle of vomit on the carpet and then proceeded to try to lick it up. :) She was fine. Still, I figure if a 55-pound dog can inhale that much chocolate (wrappers included) and have nothing more than a little upset tummy, a few pieces here and there can't be that bad -- even in a smaller dog.

Answer 4

It's an old wive's tale that chocolate will kill your dog if he eats it. It would take an enormous amount of chocolate (even dark chocolate) to harm your dog. There is a chemical (theobromine) in chocolate that yuor dog's system cannot handle. If your dog receives too much theobromine in a single sitting, it can have a toxic effect. Here's the deal: it takes two ounces of milk (1 oz of dark) per kilo of body weight to begin to see toxic effects of theobromine. If your dog weighs 40 pounds, that is roughly eighteen kilos. That's 36 ounces of milk, 18 of dark. Even if it was dark chocolate, your 40 lb dog would need to eat over a POUND (over two pounds for milk chocolate). It is a non-issue unless a toy poodle eats a monster-size Special Dark.
What many people are actually referring to (though they do not realize it) when they speak of chocolate's danger to dogs, is caffeine. If your dog is especially susceptible to caffeine (usually a heart condition, but also sometimes kidney issues), it's a good idea to keep him away from ANY source of caffeine. That means coffee, colas, Mt. Dew, chocolate, tea, etc. Hope this helps.

Answer 5

I'm not a vet, just a long time dog owner. My dogs have sometimes gotten hold of chocolate, and nothing really bad happened. One miniature poodle even ate a whole chocolate easter bunny! She had no appetite for supper, that's all. Other dogs that ate chocolate threw it back up (no big deal for a dog) and no ill effects.

Answer 6

I was actually wondering this myself. I got some fast food for dinner, and took the dog along for the ride, when we got home, I dropped my chocolate Frosty on the porch and before I could sit everything down to clean it up, he had already started licking it up! I've been watching him all night..I think unless they eat like a big bar of dark chocolate, they will live, but I would expect some major diarehea.

Answer 7

I have 2 dogs and each of them have had chocolate before... and I'm not talking a little bit... when my nieces and nephews visited they left 2 boxes of chocolates out and my dogs ate it all... they had absolutely no side effects.
Every dog is different, but ur better off not risking it... I'm not a vet but just speaking from personal experience

Answer 8

The darker the chocolate and the smaller the dog the worse the poisoning will be.
http://www.dogownersdigest.com/news/library/chocolate-dog-poisoning.shtml
http://www.vetinfo.com/dencyclopedia/dechoc.html

Answer 9

Here is a site where you can read how bad chocolate & many other foods are for your dog http://mooreshaven.com/pets/dogs/safety/badfoodslist.html

Answer 10

I found a good site that has some answers...

http://www.dogownersdigest.com/news/library/chocolate-dog-poisoning.shtml