Dogs and chocolate: How much is too much?

‘Tis the season to monitor diet

Chocolate tends to grace our countertops and tables this time of year. Most owners know it can make their dogs sick, but aren’t aware of how much it takes to do so.

Knowing some basic information about chocolate toxicity in dogs can prevent late-night trips to the vet when your Great Dane swallows a couple of M&M’s.

How much chocolate is too much depends on the type of chocolate and the dog’s size. The toxic substances in chocolate for dogs are called methylxanthines, a combination of theobromine and caffeine. The darker a chocolate is, the more methylxanthines it contains and the more dangerous it is.

For example, unsweetened baker’s chocolate contains up to 500 mg/ounce; dark semisweet chocolate contains approximately 155 mg/ounce; and milk chocolate contains up to 66 mg/ ounce.

Mild clinical signs of chocolate poisoning (vomiting, diarrhea, and hyperexcitability) can be seen when a dog ingests around nine mg of methylxanthines per pound of body weight. More severe problems (seizures, irregular heart rhythms, and potentially death) occur when dogs get into 18 mg per pound body weight or more.

Consider the case of a 65-pound lab that eats eight ounces of milk chocolate: 66 mg methylxanthine/ounce of chocolate times eight ounces of chocolate divided by 65 pounds of dog equals a little more than 8 mg methylxanthine per pound of dog. This pet will be fine.

On the other hand, if the dog in question is a 10-pound poodle that eats half as much milk chocolate as the lab above, that works out to 66 mg methylxanthine/ounce of chocolate times four ounces of chocolate divided by 10 pounds of dog equals 26.4 mg methylxanthine per pound of dog. This is an emergency.

If the chocolate in question were unsweetened bakers chocolate, it would only take a little over two ounces to make our hypothetical 65-pound lab dangerously sick, to say nothing of what it could do to our 10-pound poodle.

If you have any doubts as to whether your dog should be seen, call your veterinarian for guidance. When treatment is started within a couple of hours of a dog eating chocolate, most will recover. A veterinarian can get most of the chocolate out of a dog’s gastrointestinal tract before it has been absorbed and, if needed, initiate symptomatic and supportive care like intravenous fluids and anti-seizure medications until the patient is well. DR. WENDY MCCELLAND IS THE FOUNDER OF VETS TO GO, AND AUTHOR OF THE 7 HIDDEN SIGNS YOUR PET’S HEALTH MAY BE AT RISK, AVAILABLE FOR FREE AT VETSTOGO.COM. YOU CAN REACH HER AT 587-777-7387