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My Dog Just Ate Chocolate – What Do I Do?
As I’m getting the candy ready for trick-or-treaters today, I’m reminded of the time Joy ate a bunch of chocolate and I had to induce vomiting.
Chocolate contains theobromine and caffeine, both of which are toxic to dogs. I just learned that theobromine is metabolized very slowly and your dog may be at continued risk for up to three days after consumption. The good news is that not all chocolates are equally risky, and not all dogs are equally vulnerable.
Dark baking chocolate and baking cocoa contain the highest levels of theobromine while white chocolate contains the least. If your dog has ingested any amount of chocolate, immediately call your veterinarian and be ready to tell them your dog’s size, breed, weight and age, as well as what was consumed, how much and when. Be ready to get the dog to them as quickly as possible for induction of vomiting and hydration support. Once the chocolate has passed through the stomach, your veterinarian has limited options for helping your dog. (ASPCA also has a poison control number – there’s a fee to use it.)
If you are a long way from the veterinarian, you can induce vomiting by using 3% hydrogen peroxide and water solution if you are able to dose the dog (no easy task, trust me -Joy was not a fan.) However, if you have a breed with a short snout, like a pug or pekenese, inducing vomiting could be super risky because of the possibility of aspiration. Obviously for us, it all turned out well. We were lucky.
This year, with a puppy in the house, I’m being extra careful to keep the chocolate out of her reach! Hope this helps your Halloween be happier!
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7 Replies
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I have had this nerve-racking experience, too!
Years ago, my dog Angel who was a 45LB Sheltie/Shepherd mix (best guess) ate 4 triple chocolate brownies from a bakery. Individually, they were huge and, heavy! One adult person could not finish one and this dog ate 4 after counter-surfing (and she never counter-surfed!)
It was a long, late night trying to induce vomiting.
Thanks for the reminder of the dangers in chocolate with this post!
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Ugh – what a terrible experience, @jenz – I had a sheltie years ago who bloated after getting into a whole bag of dog food and eating half of it – what in the actual, was she thinking? She never did stuff like that! A good reminder that dogs will be DOGS and that we need to keep them safe, even when we think we can “trust them”. After a stomach lavage and and overnight at Purdue, she was fine, thank goodness!
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OH – and in my initial post, I meant to say something about XYLITOL which is in a number of “sugar-free” stuff like gum, some candies and certain peanut butter!
XYLITOL is very toxic to dogs. And it is so fast – don’t bother trying to induce vomiting – get to the vet asap.
I have a friend who almost lost her 75lb hound because he helped himself to a pack of sugar-free gum.
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This is such a great reminder! Mostly on days like today- Halloween:) Glad I am not the only one, my Aussie mix years ago stole chocolate chip cookies. Of course I was freaking out and called the vet. Dogs are dogs, I can’t even resist the smell of a good chocolate chip cookie:)
And yes sugar free gum is another!!! Thank you for posting!!! Great information!
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Oh man – I know that “freaking out” feeling. It’s horrible. And I also discovered that I will gladly pay for an ER vet visit to have them induce vomiting QUICKLY, EFFECTIVELY and EASILY with the tiny apomorphine tab they drop into their eye mucus membrane (if you can believe that!) than trying to get several syringes filled with nasty liquid into the belly of an unappreciative canine. So much less stress and it’s incredibly effective where the hydrogen peroxide dosing has failed for me more than once.
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Such an important topic, @programdev . When I talk about things that are toxic to dogs with my clients, I’m surprised how many are unaware of the dangers. Raisins and grapes are two biggies, as well as onions. And I only learned last year that macadamia nuts can be harmful.
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@virginiad I had forgotten about onions – and recently made a bone broth which I shared with my dogs – and flavored with onion while cooking. SHHEEESH! They are okay – but I have big dogs. Still. I’d like to think I won’t poison them eventually. Thanks for your comment; I’ll be more diligent!
And yes to the macadamias – and other fatty nuts, too, I’ve heard. I wonder if peanuts are okay because they are actually a legume?
Where are our nutrition and veterinary peeps? Can you all shed some wisdom on these topics?
@levi @CBradley @Madeline.Pape
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