Vanessa Wood, Veterinary Surgeon, from White Cross Vets talks you through what to do if your dog has eaten chocolate. *If your dog has eaten chocolate and you are in an emergency situation, contact your local vet.*

You may have heard that chocolate is poisonous to dogs.
If your dog has eaten chocolate, the first thing to do is – not panic! It’s probably not as bad as you think.

Find out what the chocolate type is and how much they have eaten. The darker the chocolate, the higher the risk.

Chocolate toxicity calculator

A chocolate poisoning calculator is available on the Vets Now website. http://www.vetsnow.com/petowners/do...

Input the weight of your dog and estimate of chocolate eaten into the calculator to find out if your dog needs a trip to the vets.

Find an emergency vet.

Find your nearest White Cross Vets practice using the search bar at the top of this page.

If your local White Cross Vets practice isn’t open, you can call our ‘out of hours’ service partners Vets Now for advice and treatment.

To find your nearest out of hours emergency vet, visit the Vets Now website.
http://www.vetsnow.com/findanemerg...

How much chocolate is poisonous to dogs?

If a dog has eaten a full bar of 70% chocolate, that could be serious. But a dog would have to eat a lot more milk or white chocolate to have the same impact.

If you’re worried, call your vet immediately. If your pet can be treated within an hour, they should be fine. Ideally within half an hour.

Ask for an emergency appointment and get them to the vets as soon as possible.

Whatever you do, DON’T try and make the dog sick yourself. This can be extremely dangerous and can waste time.

Your vet can assess and treat them quickly and effectively.

The severity of the poisoning is influenced by the amount of chocolate eaten as well as the type of chocolate.

Theobromine and chocolate toxicity in dogs.

Cocoa powder and dark chocolate are the biggest dangers to dogs as they contain more theobromine. Theobromine is a stimulant (a bit like caffeine) that is poisonous to dogs.

Dogs that eat a few smarties or a couple of bites of a chocolate chip cookie are unlikely to develop chocolate poisoning. But baker’s or cooking chocolate is highly toxic and any amount could be dangerous.

For milk chocolate, eating more than half an ounce per pound of body weight may put your dog at risk for chocolate poisoning.

For dark or semisweet chocolate, eating more than 0.13 ounces per pound of body weight may cause chocolate poisoning in dogs.

Age and general health are also factors that can affect chocolate toxicity in dogs.

Very young and very old dogs, or dogs with underlying health conditions or diseases should be treated as higher risk than healthy adult animals.

Due to the large amount of fat in chocolate, some pets may develop pancreatitis (or inflammation of the pancreas) after eating chocolate or baked goods containing chocolate.

We always recommend giving your vet a call for advice or an emergency appointment. This is because it is hard to tell exactly how much your dog may have eaten, and there are so many variables to consider in relation to chocolate toxicity in dogs.

If we are closed, White Cross Vets has an out of hours service run by Vets Now. You can find your nearest Vets Now clinic on our website.

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