[Dailydrool] Chocolate and Dogs

[Beverly Szaton]

The spectre of chocolate toxicity has been raised again this year. It is
true that chocolate contains Theobromine which is poisonous to dogs, but the
toxicity levels are probably not what most people think. Milk Chocolate is
the least harmful of all. I copied this information from another site on the
internet but it is available a dozen other places and in any good Vet book
about dogs, and probably from your Vet as well.
Never dismiss chocolate ingestion as harmless, but as you will see, it may
not be as critical as we tend to think.

*Chocolate Toxicity in Dogs*
 ------------------------------

We've all heard it,* "Don't give your dog chocolate it will kill
him".*We'll how true is it you're probably wondering. Do I have to
rush him to an
emergency vet if he ate one of my M&M's?

The truth is chocolate contains theobromine that is toxic to dogs in
sufficient quantities. This is a xanthine compound in the same family of
caffeine, and theophylline.

*Toxic Levels*

The good news is that it takes, on average, a fairly large amount of
theobromine 100-150 mg/kg to cause a toxic reaction. Although there are
variables to consider like the individual sensitivity, animal size and
chocolate concentration.

On average,
*Milk chocolate* contains 44 mg of theobromine per oz.
*Semisweet chocolate* contains 150mg/oz.
*Baker's chocolate* 390mg/oz.

Using a dose of 100 mg/kg as the toxic dose it comes out roughly as:
1 ounce per 1 pound of body weight for* Milk chocolate*
1 ounce per 3 pounds of body weight for* Semisweet chocolate*
1 ounce per 9 pounds of body weight for *Baker's chocolate*.

So, for example, 2 oz. of Baker's chocolate can cause great risk to an 15
lb. dog. Yet, 2 oz. of Milk chocolate usually will only cause digestive
problems.
___________________________________________________________________________

MomPerson to Nigel, Llewis, Mitchell and Cooper
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