Chocolate Toxicity

We always see chocolate toxicity this time of year, because a lot of chocolate gifts are placed under the Christmas tree where dogs sniff it out. You should always call the emergency vet on call to ask them what to do if your dog eats chocolate. We can calculate the toxic amount if we have the amount and type they ate and the weight of your dog. There are a lot of variables with chocolate ingestion in dogs. The level of toxicity depends upon how much they eat, how much the dog weighs and what type of chocolate they ate. Dark chocolate is the most toxic. The toxic ingredient in chocolate is Theobromine. Quantity is important...the more they eat the worse the symptoms can be. Symptoms include: vomiting and hyperactivity, difficulty walking...then elevated heart rate, seizures and possibly death. There is no specific antidote but if your dog recently ate the chocolate within the last 2 hours and if it is determined that a toxic level was ingested, inducing vomiting will be the first course of action. We must then monitor them for the progressive symptoms. If signs develop then medication and treatment will become more aggressive. The best way to prevent ingestion is to keep the chocolate out of reach, play it safe and hide the gift somewhere in a drawer or high on a shelf and put a note under the tree as a reminder instead.