My dog got into chocolate

[ReneeM]

My mom left a pound of toffee topped with dark chocolate sitting on a chair in the living room. My American Eskimo is not crated at all. She behaves herself (normally ) and has not been in a crate for 12 years. I awoke this morning to find an empty toffee bag next to my dog. And she looked guilty. I called the poison control hotline and then rushed my dog to the vet so they could induce vomiting. I was not sure how long before this she had eaten the candy, but estimated 3-4 hours. They then gave her fluids and charcoal. I brought her home and kept an eye on her the rest of the day. Luckily she is okay! Because of her age (13) and the fact it was dark charcolate were major causes for concern. Then my dad started complaining about the toffee...I countered with the fact my dog could have died. $16 worth of toffee and $150 in vet bills later, I got this picture:

Sakura was NOT a happy puppy... and got charchol all over my car

 

[chinchillalover0927]

It always depends on the dog. One of our boxers ate a pound of bakers chocolate. All she did was throw up one time. but she also loves chocolate... She knocked off the choc , vanilla cookies one day and picked out all the choc ones lol

 

[ChinCity]

Glad your dog is okay! Our chihuahua got into the pantry and ate trail mix with chocolate. Called poison control, $50 told us how to make him vomit, but he didn't so we rushed him to the emergency vet at 11:30 PM. Another $200 later the dog was a little traumatized from all the hoopla, but was okay. Also don't put any chocolate under the Christmas tree, they will sniff it out!

 

[cindyv3737]

I'm glad he's ok. I've had it happen too. My lab ate a chocolate cake, apple pie, and cheese platter (yes all in the same evening). When I woke up, I forced him to eat his food, this was before I noticed he consumed all the other treats. Poor dog was laying on his side panting, while looking pregnant. When I called the vet he said to just keep an eye on him. If he stated foaming at the mouth to bring him in the office. The vet also assumed he'd be fine. This was the same dog that ate and passed the following: kitchen towel, rubber flip flops, eye glasses and other random things. He was fine and lived another 10 years. Let's just say he was a colorful character.

 

[Riven]

I can't imagine having a dog eat a lb of chocolate, especially bakers, and not inducing vomiting... I saw too many dogs come through the vet we didn't do so hot after eating chocolate. Vomiting can be induced at home with peroxide...

 

[FutureDVM]

I'm so glad she's okay! I work at a vet clinic and that charcoal stuff is SO MESSY! I once had to administer charcoal to 3 huge dogs that got into a bottle of pain meds. It was not very fun considering each of their doses was more than a full bottle...

 

[chinchillalover0927]

I can't imagine having a dog eat a lb of chocolate, especially bakers, and not inducing vomiting... I saw too many dogs come through the vet we didn't do so hot after eating chocolate. Vomiting can be induced at home with peroxide...

My mom worked at the vet at the time that this happened . She threw up one time and had slight soft stool, the dog was fine and showed no signs of needing to pump her stomach and put her through that. she ate the chocolate when we were not home and didn't return for a few hours. So by the time we got home and figured out what happened she was showing no signs of illness. We only found the one throw up pile and evidence of the choc. Thanks for your input but we had it covered my mom knew what to look for. the dog just luckily did not seem to have the common problems most dogs have when ingesting a large amount of choc.. it was pure luck. If any of our other dogs had eaten it it would have been a different story completely.

 

[Jenn]

My mini schnauzer I had years ago, ate half a chocolate cake that was up on the counter. To my knowledge, she had never gotten on the counter before, and being a smaller dog, she used chairs as aids to get up there. I thought this would be a death sentence for her, and to be honest, I can't really remember the day much at all, but she turned out just fine. I guess some dogs just have a guardian angel looking out for them. Lesson learned, I don't keep chocolate where my dogs can find a way to get at it!

Hope your doggie continues to be ok.

 

[ReneeM]

She has loose stool today, but the vet said that was normal after everything they gave her.I have never had her get into chocolate before, she is normally so good! Now to pay off the credit card bill it's a credit card I got Just for vet emergencies since I still am unemployed. I'm happy I had it. My dad was so mad at her he said he hoped she got sick or died. I was so mad at him. I know he didn't mean it, he loves my dog. But still it was a horrible thing to say while I was fretting over my poor dog.

 

[PetoftheDay]

You can make your Dad some toffee - it's not that hard, plenty of recipes online, and apologize to him, but tell your parents this should teach them never to leave chocolate - or any food, at doggie-accesible height!

 

[arf2184]

I'm glad your pooch is ok.

The things our dogs teach us...
It is the theobromine in chocolate that is toxic to dogs.
The lethal dose for theobromine is 100mg-150 mg/kg of bodyweight.
Milk chocolate typically has about 50mg theobromine per ounce.
Dark chocolate typically has about 150mg per ounce.
Baking chocolate typically has about 440mg per ounce.

A 75 lb dog would have to eat about 3 lbs of milk chocolate for it to be toxic. I know this because my 75 lb lab mix Bear is a chocolate fiend! On more than one occasion he's managed to find and eat significant amounts of chocolate. He's now 11 years old, and his desire for chocolate and what he'll do to get to it seems to have gotten worse with age.

We can't leave chocolate Kisses or M&M's or any chocolate sitting on the desk or counter. Just a few weeks ago, he ate an entire king size milk chocolate bar (and half the wrapper). He pulled it off the counter (shame on Dad for leaving it there) while I was in the shower. Last year, I had a chocolate orange (mmmm...) that I had been saving. It was in its original packaging (in foil in plastic in a box), inside a plastic grocery bag in a box under a pile of stuff. Bear sniffed it out, removed the 'pile of stuff', ripped into the box, tore open the bag and packaging and ate the whole thing. (Oh was I mad!)

All chocolate is supposed kept at least 5 feet high in our house (usually on top of the fridge). Fortunately we like milk chocolate and Bear is a big guy so his stolen chocolate hasn't made him sick yet, but I was a bit panicked the first time.