To think they should take him to the vets

[Huggyhuggy]

My mum and dads dog had a full box of ‘black magic’ dark chocolates yesterday and today has vomiting, wheezing, and is laid down looking very sorry for himself but they won’t take to the vets saying none will be open now

Not that it’s your business but I’m a single parent, I have my young daughter here with me, we were just calling in briefly as we live near by. I had no idea the dog had even eaten the chocolates until we got here and seen he was unwell. I’m not a pet owner but I know chocolate is poisonous. From posting, I now know that dark chocolate even more so. I don’t drive and I am on a low income as I only work part time hours along with looking after my daughter, it’s not that simple as I don’t have emergency vet fees laying around as I don’t have pets and I’m on a single income. I have arranged transport as I’m not wanting to watch him suffer, unlike my parents who said they’ve seen it all before with previous pets and that he’ll ’be fine’. I posted for advice really as my parents have been so blase about it saying he will sleep it off.

@MerryMaker A good few years ago I should have said.

Poor dog

Hope he’s ok. My lurcher once ate pure cocoa. Hopefully the actual cocoa content wasn’t enough to cause lasting damage 😞

Honestly your backstory is irrelevant, my point still stands, I asked what the point of the post was. You posted an hour and a half ago and when it was then made clear its an urgent situation, you then said you can't do anything. So I say again, what was the point apart from to either rile people up or to elicit offers of money maybe?

You've been told it's serious, that info could have been found using Google, get an hour and a half later you are now telling people why you can't do anything so again, what was the point in the post.

I would at least call the vet. When my old girl did similar (she was also a lurcher x) I called the vet right away and they actually calculated that the amount she ate was unlikely to be problematic but I took her any way for them to take a look and luckily she was fine. They observed her for a while and encouraged her to drink (I think it was a few years ago now) but ultimately she didn't need treatment and it therefore wasn't expensive and gave me peace of mind.
She showed no signs of ill health or lethargy though so I would advise you see a vet asap....but hopefully it won't be as bad as you fear.

Where have I asked for money or told that I can’t do anything? I said I’ve arranged transport to get him seen. My parents will have to pay it, hes their dog and he needs seeing to.

Not sure why people are being rude to the OP.

Her parents aren’t listening to her and she’s concerned for the dog.

She’s the good guy in this.

Most people who choose not to have pets, don’t have any spare money lying around for emergency pet treatment and it’s probably the exact reason why OP is sensible enough to not have any pets herself.

Can you tell the vet it’s not your dog and you are only taking him in as an emergency. I can’t imagine a vet would refuse treatment if it will be fatal to withhold treatment?

They can bill your parents (does he have a chip?) and go through debt collection process if they don’t pay?

You are getting a lot of grief despite you obviously caring about the dog so ignore all that x

I was hoping some of these replies would help me get through to my mum and dad that they should be taking him. I even showed them the calculator results and they still didn’t think it was serious

Thank you. Yes he is chipped

The vet will withhold treatment.
You would have to hand over the dog and make the vet the owner.

Maybe OP posted in the hope it would be read by a vet who could offer reassurance or real-time advice? A little sympathy for a difficult situation OP didn’t cause, and is financially unable to take responsibility for, wouldn’t go amiss.

What an awful situation to find yourself in, OP. I hope you work something out.

It's probably the frustration of knowing there is supposedly a dog that has been suffering for at least 24 hours and 3 adults who have opted to do nothing.

Yes the OP posted but then spent ages saying about how they couldn't do anything, which made me question why the post.

The problem is at the end of this a dog that could be having worsening health while his owners don't care and that is naturally going to annoy people.

How is he today xx

Vets have to provide 24 hour cover or a link to a practice that provides this for them.

It's the stimulant theobromine that can have a devastating effect on their heart tissue.

If they are not going to provide veterinary treatment for the critter, they should not have animals.

No you can't just present so.eone else's pet for treatment and hope the vet bills the owners.

@Huggyhuggy you've done what you can. Hopefully the dog has vomited enough out to recover.

Tell them that their dog is dying and it’s going to be long and unpleasant and he will suffer. I hope they can live with that (actually, I hope they can’t)

Vile humans. I couldn’t have anything to do with disgraceful people like them

Then call the vet and put it on speaker, surely a medical professional will get through to them more than randoms on the Internet.

The chances of the dog surviving get less and less with each minute that you delay. Chocolate poisoning causes a slow and painful death, similar to paracetamol overdose in humans. Get off MN and ring a vet NOW.
TBH I think your parents should be prosecuted for animal cruelty and banned from owning any in the future.

That may be the only option then if the OP quite understandably does not have a spare few hundred quid to pay for life saving treatment for someone else’s pet. Better to do that than the dog suffer and die in pain.

Hopefully the parents will come to their senses when the vet calls them to tell them what the bill is and pay it.

Have they put in the digs weight and quantity of chocolate ate? Obviously that's a lot for a tiny dog but might not be too bad for a very big dog.

I’ve known dogs eat chocolate and then vomit and they’ve been fine.
I can understand the hesitation because they’re probably looking at a bill running into thousands of pounds and it’s frightening for people.
I know people should have insurance but a lot of people don’t and realistically they can’t afford the vets, I’m not making excuses, I’m just being realistic!

As the dog is clearly showing signs of illness, a calculator is irrelevant.

Chances are he has an underlying issue that this poisoning has highlighted but irrespective, he needs to be seen. He would benefit from a drip to dilute the effects of the theobromine at least.

Pick the dog up and take him to an emergency vet yourself. Waiting to see what happens could be too late. Chocolate toxicity is no joke and dark chocolate is the most toxic. Your parents dog's regular vet will have a message giving details of the emergency out-of-hours vet when you phone their number.