Dog ate chocolate

[Couchpotato3]

Hi All, any vets about?

Couchdog stole an Easter egg on Friday and ate the lot. We looked up online and the advice was to keep a close eye on her, which we did. She had a bit of diarrhoea (frankly not unusual for her) for 48 hours afterwards and then seemed fine.

She's hardly eaten anything today or yesterday. I managed to tempt her with some chicken yesterday and some scraps of corned beef and salmon today, but she won't touch her normal food or treats.

She seems OK in herself, a bit lethargic (but perhaps just no energy because she hasn't eaten). She doesn't feel hot, not panting, not in any pain that I can tell. I've felt all over her tummy and there are no sore spots. She went out for a walk this morning, and is drinking and peeing OK. Her breathing is fine, and her nose is cold and wet. Nothing else seems out of the ordinary. She's still barking at the postman etc.

If she doesn't start eating by tomorrow, I'm going to book her in at the vet, but my question is, do you think this could be related to the chocolate or is it likely to be something else now? She ate about 120g of darkish chocolate (about 50% cocoa solids) and a similar amount of white chocolate. She weighs 28kg, aged nearly 4 and otherwise fit and healthy.

Thank you!

[Dacaday]

www.vets-now.com/dog-chocolate-toxicity-calculator/

I put your figures in and it comes up mild to moderate toxicity. I'm a vet nurse and in this case we would have advised inducing vomiting but it has to be done within a couple of hours. Definitely get your dog to a vet for bloods ASAP.

[adaline]

I would be really worried tbh. Vets tonight.

[WeAllHaveWings]

I would have been straight on the phone to the vet when it happened and would still go to the vet now.

Panting, feeling hot and pain touching stomach are not symptoms of toxic poisoning so no point checking for them. Get your dog to a professional.

[Veterinari]

You should never wait and see after dark chocolate ingestion. At least seek professional advice.
Has she vomited at all? Any drooling? Are her gums moist or tacky?

Theobromine is a diuretic so keeping her well hydrated is important and ensuring she wees regularly to encourage elimination of theobromine and avoid resorption.

I'd probably want to check bloods, cardiac rhythm and start IV fluids

[WeAllHaveWings]

Have you called the vet yet?

[pilates]

Dark chocolate is particularly bad for dogs. Please contact vet ASAP.

[CoffeeHere]

Where did you see that online? My understanding has always been that chocolate, especially dark chocolate, is problematic.

[pilates]

Couch, is your dog ok?

[koshkatt]

OP you probably realise this now but your dog should have been straight to the vets for induced vomiting.

I hope that she has now been seen and that all is well. Please remember this for next time though.

[Windyatthebeach]

Hoping your ddog is fine op.
Back in the day (1980s)my rottweiler ate about 6 Easter eggs and most of the boxes.
Guts of steel.
And our old Collie had a kitkat every day most of her life - lived to nearly 21!

[Veterinari]

Not exactly helpful or responsible advice @Windyatthebeach

It's on par with 'my gran smoked 40 fags a day and never got lung cancer'

[Windyatthebeach]

Was referring to how things have changed - where did I suggest any advice? I wished the ddog well..

[koshkatt]

And our old Collie had a kitkat every day most of her life - lived to nearly 21!

WTAF?

[Veterinari]

where did I suggest any advice? I wished the ddog well..

Where you implied that your collie's longevity was somehow related to your totally unhealthy feeding practices. Otherwise why mention it?

[Windyatthebeach]

Where do I say i implied anything? 2 statements of fact. What you read into it is your interpretation..
I have ddogs now and they don't eat chocolate -my childhood ddogs were dm's responsibility - how things have changed was all I implied..
My dodg ate a flip flop once. A statement. Not suggesting posters add one to the diet of their dodg..

[WeAllHaveWings]

tbf, your anecdote is inappropriate when a dog might be in need of professional vet advice/care and will encourage the op not to bother.

[KitchenConfidential]

You should have phoned the vet straight away and with that ratio of high quality chocolate, inducing vomiting would probably have been highly recommended. You've got lucky here but phone the vet NOW and get an appointment right away to get her checked over.
No idea where online you'd have got the advice to just wait and see. why wouldn't you phone your vet for advice rather than googling it or asking some randoms on the internet.

[Morgan12]

My lab ate chocolate every day and lived for 18 years. He loved chocolate.

[Veterinari]

@Windyatthebeach
You only mentioned the '80s in relation to the Rottweiler.
You didn't mention it was your mum's dog - you said 'our old collie' and gave no time frame for that statement. You associated the daily kitkat feeding with the dogs age - no one else. Yes we can all 'interpret that how we like' but it seems rather bizarre to come on a thread where a dog has been poisoned and tell a random anecdote about your dog regularly eating chocolate and still living for ages. Then state you've not implied the two things are connected why bother mentioning your dog's age then?

Oh and we're all supposed to know that this was actually your mum's dog and it happened when you were a kid and that you actually weren't connecting your dog's age and it's diet, despite you giving us none of that information...

[Veterinari]

Oh good. Now all the GFs are out

[KitchenConfidential]

What is wrong with you GFs?

My lab ate chocolate every day and lived for 18 years. He loved chocolate.

Then you are incredibly lucky because you were actively feeding your dog something that could poison him every day. That's pretty abusive when you think about it and the fact that people like you come and say that on a thread like this just boggles my brain.

[koshkatt]

My lab ate chocolate every day and lived for 18 years. He loved chocolate

I have no fuckiong words for how dense and irresponsible some people are with their animals.

[pilates]

How anyone could take a risk purposely feeding their dog chocolate is beyond me.

[FairfaxAikman]

My lab ate chocolate every day and lived for 18 years. He loved chocolate

My grandad smoked from the age of 8- 45 and is still alive at 92. Will you hold the lighter for your DC or shall I?

[BiteyShark]

My childhood dog ate chocolate because no one knew it could be toxic back then. Would I do it to my dog now? No, because I don't want to poison him.

Obviously accidents happen especially as lots of events like Christmas and Easter involve chocolates that may be left out more than normal.

Where did you see watch and wait advice OP because there are free to use calculators online which would have told you that amount had potential to harm?

I guess the OP isn't coming back to update but I would hope by now they had contacted a vet for advice.