We had a major freak out this week - Nelly got into our stash of chocolate. And unfortunately we like the really dark stuff which is bad news for dogs.. 😩

In case this happens to you, here’s some info you might find helpful.

Chocolate comes from the roasted seeds of the Theobroma cacao plant. It contains a compound called called theobromine, which affects the central nervous, cardiovascular and respiratory systems. It’s the bit that makes you feel good from eating chocolate.

Humans can metabolise theobromine easily, but dogs can’t. The lethal dose is between 100-500mg per kg of bodyweight.

Different types of chocolate contain different amounts of theobromine: the darker the chocolate, the more it contains.

Symptoms of chocolate poisoning in dogs include:

vomiting
diarrhea
extreme thirst or urination
cardiac arrhythmia
seizures

Most symptoms will begin within two hours of ingestion. But because theobromine is metabolised slowly in dogs it can take up to 24 hours for symptoms to develop and up to three days for full recovery.

What to do if your dog eats chocolate

The most important thing to know is what type of chocolate and how much your dog ate. If the chocolate is in a wrapper make sure you keep it.

To estimate how much theobromine your dog has ingested you’ll need to know the type of chocolate, how much they ate, and your dogs weight.

There are several online calculators for doing this, but I like this one.

Chocolate Toxicity Calculator

Plug in the numbers and it will give you a ballpark idea of how serious the situation is.

In Nelly’s case she ate a square of 70% dark chocolate. We divided out the number of squares by the size of the block of chocolate to find that she ate 6g in total.

According to the calculator that is about 60mg of theobromine in total and around 3mg per kg of bodyweight. This amount is a low risk, so we decided not to take her to the vet.

Phew!

If the level for your dog is higher, don’t panic, but go to the vet or emergency vet as soon as possible. They will be able to treat your dog in the best way possible 🐾

(Please keep in mind this is not medical advice and if you have any concerns at all call your vet immediately.)