Chocolate Poisoning

[Jacqui-S]

I hold my hand up and I admit I have partly stolen this information from our very own @JulieH !
She has first hand (and scary) experience of treating her norty girl Lochan for chocolate poisoning in the past.

Out of 1000 cases known to have eaten chocolate and for which they had follow up, approximately half the cases had no symptoms. 5 dogs died. The rest had various signs of poisoning from vomiting, abdominal pain, pancreatitis, twitching, heart problems and seizures. Toxic effects are directly related to the amount of theobromine in the chocolate. For white chocolate there is no problem and treatment is not required. Toxic effects will start at doses of 20mg theobromine per kg bodyweight, severe effects from 40-50 mg/kg and seizures from 60mg/kg.

The VPIS* have helpfully equated this theobromine dose to grammes of chocolate eaten and it pans out that veterinary treatment is likely to be required if they eat dark chocolate at doses over 3.5g per kg bodyweight, and milk chocolate doses over 14g chocolate per kg bodyweight.

*Veterinary Poisoning Information Service.

There is a handy little calculator available online which you can find HERE
Hope you all don't need to use it.

 

[HAH]

Thanks for posting this @Jacqui-S. Hoping it's never needed, but if it is, this lays it all out neatly.

 

[Charlie]

STOP thief!!

This is extremely useful and really hoping I never need to use it.

Thanks Jac. x

 

[MaccieD]

Thanks for sharing Jac. It's scary hiw little chocolate is needed to be consumed to start a toxic reaction.

 

[Anne123]

This includes also the chocolate ‘things’ people sometimes uses in the garden to make a path or put between flowerbeds. I don’t know what it is called in English....

Thank you for the useful information!

 

[Jacqui-S]

Yes, you are right @Anne123 Good call!!
I think we call it Cocoa Mulch. Its a by-product of the chocolate industry.

Although not chocolate related, Coir and Coconut husks which are also often used in gardens as they are good at retaining water, can also be dangerous as they can swell up in the tummy and cause blockages.

 

[JES72]

Thanks, that’s very useful information to have to hand.

We came back from a long Sunday lunch with friends with 4 left over rich chocolate brownies. Plonked ourselves on the sofa when all went quiet, a little too quiet. Homer had pinched the brownies from the kitchen table. Homer is not usually a counter surfer or a food thief (a sock thief, mind you). While I was getting the recipe from our friend to calculate the exact amount of chocolate he’d ingested Hubby was on the phone to brother in law the vet to find out the amount that would be dangerous. Luckily all was fine although near the bottom range of being in danger.

 

[JulieH]

Yup, this happened to me one December. I'd bought a whole load of dark chocolate xmas wreaths for the staff at work. They were double boxed on the table in the dining room behind closed doors. We went to pick up one of our sons from the station late one night and when we got back, Lochan bounded up to greet me as usual but as she wiggled around and greeted me I noticed her stagger just a little and then was normal again. This was so unusual for her I checked her over to find her heart rate well over 200/min. A quich search revealed she had eaten 600g of dark chocolate having broken into the dining room while we were out. One frantic 90mph dash to work followed with both dogs, as we couldn't be sure who had eaten what. Vomiting was induced in both girls, poor Tarka was completely innocent and hadn't eaten any. Lochan produced a vast amount. She had eaten well over the toxic amount, and was in the range where around 50% of dogs will die. Luckily, she'd only eaten it within the previous hour, so most of it was still in the stomach. Lots of supportive therapy later (and that was just for me....) we brought her home in the wee small hours whereupon she happily snoozed on the bottom of our bed while I checked her heart out approximately every minute throught the night.....honestly I think I was in more danger of heart failure than she was!

 

[Jacqui-S]

I vividly remember you telling this story before - so so scary

 

[snowbunny]

Terrifying, Julie. I’m just thankful that you noticed the slight wobble and took it seriously. If you’d all just gone to bed, it could have been a totally disastrous outcome. Doesn’t bear thinking about.

 

[kateincornwall]

I too remember this , what a terrifying time for you all , what a blinkin good job you were vigilant x