Chocolate Toxicity

Pets are commonly exposed to chocolate particularly around holidays such as Easter, Halloween and Christmas. Unfortunately, chocolate is toxic to dogs. If your dog has eaten any chocolate we strongly advise you contact your local vet immediately for medical advice.

Chocolate and cocoa products contain toxic compounds such as theobromine and caffeine that can cause severe illness. The amount of toxic compounds vary greatly between products with dark chocolate, baking chocolate and cocoa powder holding the highest concentrations.

Dogs can respond differently to chocolate doses and the type of chocolate ingested with some dogs being more sensitive than others.

Levels of theobromine

Levels of theobromine

Cocoa contains 20-30mg/g of theobromine

Baking chocolate or dark chocolate contains 6-16mg/g of theobromine

Milk chocolate contains 2mg/g of theobromine

White chocolate contains 0.1mg/g of theobromine

How much chocolate is toxic for my dog?

The effect of your dog eating chocolate is determined by a few main factors:

-        How much your dog weighs

-        How much chocolate your dog ate

-        What type of chocolate your dog ate (dark, milk, white).

Estimated doses of chocolate toxicity

Size of dog Milk Chocolate Dark Chocolate

Small dogs 60-600g 7-70g

Medium dogs 900g-1.5kg 100-200g

Large dogs 2kg+ 200-500g

*The amount of theobromine and caffeine will differ between chocolate brands. Always call your veterinary clinic and advise them of the amount of chocolate ingested. They will be able to accurately calculate the dose that your pet has been exposed to.

For example:

If a 15kg dog ingested a 85g dark chocolate bar (dark chocolate concentration is approximately 16mg/g of theobromine)

85g (dark chocolate bar) x 16 (concentration of theobromine) = 1,360mg

1,360mg / 15kg (dog’s weight) = 90.6mg/kg

You would expect a dose above 40mg/kg to cause serious illness to most dogs.

What are the symptoms of chocolate toxicity?

-        Vomiting

-        Diarrhoea

-        Panting

-        Bloat

-        Restlessness

-        Muscle spasms/twitching

-        Seizures

-        Respiratory failure

-        Heart arrhythmias leading to cardiac arrest.

Clinical signs usually occur within 6-12 hours of eating chocolate and can persist for 72 hours in severe cases. The half life of theobromine is 17.5 hours and caffeine is 4.5 hours, which means that it takes that amount of time for half of it to be excreted out of the body.

Management

Treatment may include:

-        Induce vomiting and removal of gastrointestinal contents

-        Antinausea medication to reverse the effects of induced vomiting

-        Charcoal to prevent further absorption of any toxic compounds

-        Stabilisation and supportive care with fluid therapy

-        Medication for tremors or seizures.

Prevention

Tips to help prevent chocolate toxicity:

-        Keep chocolate out of reach of pets

-        Check ingredients carefully to ensure there is no theobromine or caffeine present.