Dear dog owner,
Cookies, chocolate candies, brownies: surrounded by all these temptations, most
of us humans have a hard time saying no to putting quite a few pieces of
chocolate in our mouths. Many dogs feel the same way!
Far too often, these sweets are easily accessible for our pets. They can grab a
little bit for themselves without your noticing. But please remember: for cats
and dogs, chocolate is poisonous! Our pets aren’t able to metabolize the
theobromine contained in chocolate, because they lack the necessary enzyme.
This substance accumulates in their bloodstream and leads to symptoms of
poisoning, including panting, muscular tremors, and restlessness. These
symptoms usually occur about five hours after eating the chocolate. If the dog
also ate the packaging, then the onset of symptoms may be delayed because the
digestive juices must first work their way through aluminum foil and paper.
The degree of intensity of the poisoning symptoms depends upon a number of
different factors:
-
The theobromine content of the chocolate – milk chocolate contains
significantly less theobromine than dark chocolate.
-
The weight of the dog: the greater the dog’s weight, the more theobromine he
can tolerate. Conversely, eating even a single bar of dark chocolate may
prove lethal for a small dog weighing only 10 pounds.
-
And, of course, the quantity of chocolate the dog has eaten.
Any time you suspect chocolate poisoning, you should consult your
veterinarian – preferably at the time you first notice the missing chocolate
and before your dog has shown any symptoms. If noticed early, inducing your
dog to vomit is often sufficient, and the need for further treatment can be
avoided.
Many dog owners regularly reward their dog with a little piece of chocolate,
and the dogs seem to tolerate this without any problems. However, a number of
studies have shown that even this can lead to severe and permanent damage to
the heart musculature!
White chocolate actually contains no theobromine, and thus isn’t poisonous for
dogs. Still, it is problematic, since it can result in obesity – but that is
the topic for our January newsletter… You can obtain more information about
chocolate poisoning
at any time on our website.
We wish you a happy Christmas season!
Your enpevet team.