How much is too much?
Is chocolate dangerous for dogs?
Yes, chocolate is toxic to dogs. While rarely fatal, chocolate ingestion can make your dog really sick. Chocolate is harmful to dogs because it contains a chemical similar to caffeine called theobromine. Dogs cannot metabolise theobromine so if they ingest too much it causes serious problems, lasting damage to internal organs and unfortunately in some severe cases can be fatal.
Symptoms of chocolate poisoning?
For many dogs, the most common signs of chocolate poisoning are vomiting, diarrhoea, increased thirst, panting, restlessness, hyperactivity, excessive urination and racing heart rate. In severe cases, symptoms can include muscle tremors, seizures, and heart failure. The symptoms of chocolate poisoning take between 6 and 12 hours to show up and can last for days.
How much is too much?
It’s important to remember that your dog needs to eat a reasonable amount of chocolate for it to be fatal. If your dog has eaten something like a Kitkat bar that is mostly biscuit covered with milk chocolate, you do not need to panic. However, if your dog has eaten a large quantity of dark chocolate, you need to act swiftly to take advice from your vet so you can minimise any damage. Of course in this instance the size of your dog also matters. A big dog can eat more chocolate than a little dog before it becomes dangerous.
The amount of toxic theobromine varies with the type of chocolate. The darker and more bitter the chocolate, the more dangerous it is to dogs. Baking chocolate and gourmet dark chocolate have the highest concentration levels of theobromine and are therefore the most dangerous to dogs. White chocolate rarely poses any threat of chocolate poisoning due to having low levels of theobromine.
A smaller dog weighing 10kg (like a bigger Spoodle) would need to eat about 60 grams of dark chocolate to be at risk of dying from theobromine poisoning — this is roughly half the amount of a standard-sized Easter egg or a quarter of a large bar of Whittakers. For larger dogs weighing around 30kg, such as a large Labrador, it would take about 160g of dark chocolate. For context, a large bar of Whittakers dark chocolate is 250g.
It’s important to remember even if the amount of chocolate ingested is not a toxicity concern, dogs can still become ill from the fat and sugar in chocolate. So any amount of chocolate is not healthy for dogs to eat. I’m also not a fan of chocolate products made especially for dogs, because of their high sugar content. Sugar does the same thing to dogs and it does to children… let’s just say it does not make them calm and relaxed!!
What to do if your dog eats chocolate
Dogs can eat small amounts of chocolate or chocolate products and be just fine or mildly sick. So stay calm! If you know how much chocolate your dog ate, work out if you should be worried based on their weight and the amount/type of chocolate ingested. Here is a handy online calculator: https://www.omnicalculator.com/biology/dog-chocolate-toxicity
If your dog is well outside danger levels, keep them close and monitor them for the next 12 hours. Make sure they have access to water. If in doubt, call your vet to discuss.
IMPORTANT: If you suspect your dog has eaten a dangerous amount or if you are unsure how much they ate… take them straight to the vet to take advice on treatment for poisoning. Treatment can involve inducing vomiting and administering activated charcoal to prevent absorption of theobromine into the body.
Prevention is better than cure.
It is so important to have good practices at home with chocolate and any food, chemicals or substances that might be toxic to our dogs. They are curious creatures by their nature. And they are about as a reliable as a toddler for putting things in their mouth, especially pups and labradors! Most chocolate has a high sugar content which make it irresistible as well as deadly to dogs. Keep your dog safe by making sure dangerous goods are safely put away.
Make sure any visitors to your house know the rules about keeping curious dogs safe. It is pretty common for a visitors to unwittingly poisoned one of my clients’ dogs by innocently leaving something in their bag on the floor etc… If visitors are not used to dogs, they will not be used to having their possessions sniff tested by the resident hound. They probably will not think to put an innocent thing, like a bar of chocolate, away or up high. A simple conversation with anyone visiting your home can prevent innocent and potentially heartbreaking mistakes.
