I just got a phone call about a dog that got into chocolate. This reminded me that Easter is around the corner and there can be a lot of chocolate around the house. As you probably know, this can be lethal, especially in dogs with pre-existing heart issues. Whenever in doubt, call us or an emergency service. The toxic ingredient in chocolate is methylxanthine and the amounts vary depending on the amount of cocoa bean in the chocolate. Some of the high cocoa content dark chocolate can be quite lethal. The toxic doses start at about 50 mg per lb of body weight. Use the table below to determine the approximate content of methylxanthine, multiply the chocolate type by the number of ounces your dog ate. Then divide the total by your dogs weight in lbs . Contents of Methylxanthine: Cocao Bean 1500 mg/oz Baking Chocolate 450 mg/oz Semi-sweet 260 mg/oz Milk Chocolate 60 mg/oz Hot Chocolate 12 mg/oz White Chocolate 1 mg/oz For example, if your dog weighs 20 lbs and ate 4 oz of milk chocolate it would be 60x4=240 divided by 20 lbs = 12mg/lb or a safe dose. But if it were baking chocolate it would be 450 x 4 = 1800 divided by 20 lbs = 90 mg/lb or a lethal dose.
Posted on: Fri, 11 Apr 2014 17:26:02 +0000
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