“She’s just enjoying the attention late at night. She gets treats. And more attention. We are told she is absolutely fine and are sent home.” She is then seen snoozing as the text tells us it’s 2:00 am, “That was a fun team activity.”
Speaking to Newsweek, Lauren told us, “I knew chocolate was poisonous to dogs so had to act quickly! It depends on the level of cocoa in the chocolate so I called the emergency after hours vet and they requested her in for an assessment. They got an in depth description of the chocolate and apparently Lindt creamy milk is not a huge threat even though it was the whole block. Thank goodness. Penny got some chicken from the vet and we were sent on our way!”
One person commented explaining why chocolate can be poisonous to dogs commenting, “Theobromine it toxic to dogs but its all about amount. The darker the chocolate the higher the theobromine!”.
Why is chocolate poisonous to dogs?
Rushing to the emergency vet at midnight is every pet owners worst nightmare, so what should you do if your dog eats chocolate?
According to Los Angeles–based veterinary group VCA Animal Hospitals explains that chocolate is poisonous to dogs due to the combination of caffeine and the toxin Theobromine, the primary alkaloid found in cocoa and chocolate, which has a similar effect to caffeine, and is found in higher concentrations in dark chocolate than milk. “Dogs cannot metabolize theobromine and caffeine as well as people can,” the group explains, and the alkaloid can speed the heart rate and stimulate the nervous system of dogs.
What are the symptoms?
The VCA list the classics signs of ‘chocolate poisoning’ as “vomiting, diarrhea, increased thirst, panting or restlessness, excessive urination and a racing heart rate. In severe cases, symptoms can include muscle tremors, seizures and heart failure.” The symptoms can take hours to develop and last for days.
What should you do?
If your dogs has figured out how to open cupboards and steal your chocolate, the VCA suggests contacting your veterinarian or Pet Poison Helpline “to see if a poisonous amount of chocolate was ingested. If a toxic amount is ingested, you should have your dog examined by a veterinarian immediately. The sooner treatment begins, the better your dog’s prognosis.”
If caught early, inducing vomiting and administering activated charcoal to prevent the theobromine being absorbed in to the body could be all that’s required.
From the comments, it would seem as though it is hard to separate dogs from chocolate, as many users shared their own stories of their mischievous pets.
One person wrote, “My labradoodle eats so much that he shouldn’t because he’s a scavenger 😂 I’ve given up panicking now.” Another shared, “My Dalmatian once ate a whole chocolate birthday cake, icing and everything and was perfectly fine lmao. Didn’t even throw up.”
One user shared a scary situation, “You’re so lucky my aunts dog had to have an entire blood transfusion,” to which original user Lauren replied, “So lucky.”
