Chocolate Poisoning in Dogs

It's a favorite sweet treat for humans, but chocolate is toxic to dogs. In fact, chocolate ingestion is a common cause of canine poisoning and can lead to serious illness and death. So if you suspect that your dog has eaten chocolate, it's vital that you contact a veterinarian immediately.

Dogs can’t eat chocolate due to the fact that it contains caffeine as well as a chemical called theobromine. These compounds stimulate the nervous system, elevate the heart rate, and are metabolized very slowly by dogs. They can cause symptoms such as vomiting, diarrhea, increased thirst, and an elevated heart rate. And in severe cases of poisoning; tremors, seizures, and heart failure can occur.

However, the severity of symptoms vary depending on the chocolate your dog ingests, as the theobromine and caffeine content varies between different types of chocolate. The size of the dog and the amount of chocolate ingested also determines the level of toxicity, but immediate treatment is vital to give your pet the best chance of making a full recovery.

Symptoms may not appear until 6 to 12 hours after ingestion. The symptoms of chocolate poisoning in dogs include:

• Vomiting
• Drooling
• Diarrhea
• Increased thirst and urination
• Hyperactivity
• Pacing or restlessness
  
• Panting
• Rapid heart rate
• Muscle tremors
• Seizures

Unfortunately, dogs like the taste of chocolate and don't know just how dangerous it is to consume. So if your pup finds chocolate sitting on your kitchen counter and helps themselves, the consequences could be deadly.

However, the type and amount of chocolate ingested by your pet will determine the severity of poisoning — the more concentrated the level of theobromine in the chocolate, the more toxic the dose. And it doesn't take much to ring alarm bells, with just 1 ounce of milk chocolate per pound of a dog's body weight classified as a potentially deadly dose.

But the most dangerous variety of chocolate for a dog to ingest is baker's chocolate, which is particularly high in theobromine. According to the Pet Poison Helpline, the concentrations of theobromine and caffeine in various forms of chocolate are as follows:

• White chocolate: 0.25mg/oz of theobromine and 0.85mg/oz of caffeine
  
• Milk chocolate: 44-60mg/oz of theobromine and 6mg/oz of caffeine
  
• Dark semi-sweet chocolate: 135mg/oz of theobromine and 20mg/oz of caffeine
• Unsweetened baking chocolate: 390-450mg/oz of theobromine and 47mg/oz of caffeine
• Dry cocoa powder: 400-737mg/oz of theobromine and 70mg/oz of caffeine
• Cocoa beans: 300-1,500mg/oz of theobromine
  
• Cocoa bean mulch: 56-900mg/oz of theobromine

Though white chocolate has lower levels of theobromine, its fat content still means it can cause potentially life-threatening pancreatitis.

According to the MSD Veterinary Manual, the symptoms produced in dogs by ingesting theobromine and caffeine can vary from one dog to the next. But as a general rule, ingesting:

• 20mg per kg of body weight could cause mild symptoms such as vomiting and diarrhea
  
• 40-50mg per kg of body weight may produce cardiotoxic effects
  
• 60mg or more per kg of body weight may lead to seizures

If you suspect your pet has eaten chocolate, treatment is initiated immediately without waiting for an official diagnosis. Try to calculate how much your dog has eaten (how many candy bars or brownies, how much cake, etc.) and note the type and brand of chocolate (check the packaging if possible).

If your dog has not eaten a toxic amount of chocolate, a veterinarian may ask you to induce vomiting at home and/or carefully monitor them for symptoms over the next 4-6 hours.

If the pet has eaten a potentially toxic amount of chocolate in the last few hours, your vet will ask you to induce vomiting at home or bring them to the clinic to induce vomiting. After 2-4 hours, the toxin has already entered the bloodstream and it may be too late for vomiting to aid in treating toxicity, so the goal is to induce vomiting as quickly as possible.

Blood analysis (complete blood cell count and chemistry) and urinalysis will aid in the detection of disease or organ failure. Electrocardiography (EKG) can detect heart arrhythmias and abnormalities.

There is no antidote for chocolate toxicity. By the time symptoms of chocolate poisoning appear, supportive therapy is the only treatment.

Inducing vomiting

Vomiting must be induced within a few hours of chocolate ingestion to be effective. If you are too far from the veterinary clinic, your vet may ask that you induce vomiting at home. Follow the instructions given by your veterinarian carefully. 

If you take your pet to the clinic, the veterinarian will use an innjectable drug to induce vomiting right away.

Activated charcoal

Your veterinarian will often give a solution of activated charcoal orally to absorb any remaining theobromine from the gastrointestinal tract.

After vomiting induction and/or charcoal treatment, your pet will need to be monitored for symptoms for 4-6 hours. If symptoms occur, supportive therapy will be required to keep your pet safe and stable until toxicity wears off. This can take up to 72 hours.

Supportive therapy

Intravenous fluid administration can help to dilute theobromine levels in the bloodstream and promote excretion. Benzodiazepines (valium) may be administered to control seizures and muscle tremors, while anti-arrhythmic medications can aid in controlling heart arrhythmias.

A pet that has been treated for symptoms of chocolate poisoning will need to be monitored until symptoms pass. The time it takes to recover from chocolate toxicity depends on the severity of poisoning and how soon treatment was administered. Recovery can be complete and the prognosis good if caught and treated early (within 2 hours of ingestion). However, the prognosis is poor for pets that present with severe symptoms of poisoning.

Finally, remember that chocolate poisoning can be lethal, so make sure you always keep chocolate out of reach of your pet. Just hiding the chocolate is not enough — store it somewhere you're certain your dog won't be able to get to it — and train your dog to “leave it” to reduce the risk of them eating anything they shouldn't.

Chocolate poisoning can be expensive to treat. To avoid high vet care expenses, secure pet health insurance today. The sooner you insure your pet, the more protection you’ll have from unexpected vet costs.