# Chocolate question??



## AngelandShifusHuman (Jun 16, 2010)

I know chocolate is dangerous for dogs and usually we keep all chocolate related stuff away from reach of kids or dogs. I was down with flu for past 2 days and hubby was trying his best to take care of kids (home all day due to spring break) and dogs. Today while cleaning up I find a open sachet of drinking cocoa in my schnauzer's crate. Now I am not sure if there was any in it to start with (that hubby made hot chocolate for kids and he sneaked away the bag) or he somehow got hold of a full one. I also do not have any idea of how long ago he had it. I made a call to my Vet and she said to keep an eye on him and bring him in if he starts throwing up or behaves odd. 

Anybody know how dangerous is hot chocolate .....it was small sachet of swiss miss. Darn..... I am still not over my flu and now I am worried sick about him.


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## Willowy (Dec 10, 2007)

How big is he? I don't think there's an awful lot of real cocoa in Swiss Miss--I think it's mostly powdered milk and sugar. Was it dark chocolate or milk chocolate?


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## sassafras (Jun 22, 2010)

I think it's extremely unlikely that this is going to cause a problem. Because a single packet of hot chocolate is so small and, as Willowy said, there are a lot of other ingredients in there besides chocolate the likelihood that it was enough to be a toxic dose in the first place is pretty remote IMO. Also, unless the dog just got into the packet this morning, whatever was going to happen probably would have already happened by now anyway.

Watch him, but if it were me I wouldn't be overly worried.


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## hanksimon (Mar 18, 2009)

Agreed. A medium - large dog can eat a couple of Hershy kisses or a couple of macadamia nuts with no trouble. I bring up the nuts based on experience 

The chemicals in pure, dark, unsweetened chocolate are the cause of the kidney/liver shutdown in dogs. Most chocolate is milk chocolate, which greatly dilutes the bad stuff. I imagine (don't quote me...) that a 50 lb dog could have one Swiss Mix hot chocolate with no lasting effects ...

However, the chocolate, milk, and sugar aren't good for the dog (or us), and the dog will develop a liking for these and may seek out chocolate, and may get into the bad stuff... Therefore, on a cold day, don't sit by the fireplace feeding your dog a cup of hot chocolate 

Different tangent: I don't let my dog sleep with me. When he was about 6 mos, I got a bad case of the flu, had chills and fever, and couldn't get warm. I was probably contagious and no one could come near me. So, I pulled the puppy into the bed with me and used him like a hot water bottle. He loved it and both of us slept peacefully (first time in a week for me)... and my fever broke... I woke up sweating and feeling great. So, as a reward, he is allowed to sleep on the corner of the bed, while I'm awake.... He still doesn't sleep with me.


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## Labmom4 (Feb 1, 2011)

I agree with the others. I think he's fine. Mine ate a huge bag of hershey kisses once (papers and all. had some interesting poop for awhile) and they survived it. 
Go back to bed and get better.


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## BellaPup (Jul 7, 2007)

Labmom4 said:


> I agree with the others. I think he's fine. Mine ate a huge bag of hershey kisses once (papers and all. had some interesting poop for awhile) and they survived it.
> Go back to bed and get better.


+1...worrying will only make that flu worse. I don't think anything bad will happen with mostly-fake coca mix. One of my aunt's toy poodles ate a 2 lb bag of M&M's and was declared fine by the vet....like Labmom said had some interesting poo, but fine nonetheless. How that dog got up to the back of the kitchen counter is still a mystery.


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## AngelandShifusHuman (Jun 16, 2010)

It wasn't dark chocolate thankfully. 

I think he must have had taste for chocolate from prvious owners (we adopted him from shelter last year)as he somehow or other manages to get chocolate stuff. He doesn't steal food otherwise but anything to do with chocolate he tries his best to sneak away. He is 21lbs. He had gotten into chocolate cookies before and I caught him righ after and Vet recommended he should be fine as long as I can get him to throw it up right away.

Thanks for the responses....I'll stop hounding him when I send him out to see how his poop is. I need to rest and also tend to my daughter who seems to have caught the flu from me. Ughhh.... I need all the stay well vibes possible in this house now.


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## sassafras (Jun 22, 2010)

Here's some more information about chocolate toxicity. I'd take the chart at the bottom as a guideline but not gospel, though. What is considered a toxic dose has been revised slightly recently.


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## AngelandShifusHuman (Jun 16, 2010)

Thanks Sassafras for the link. Saving it for future reference too. So far he is acting normal. Maybe I was worrying too much.


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## RonE (Feb 3, 2007)

Here's a silly story to make your flu go away.

When I was in college, and home for Christmas, my mother gave the family beagle a bag of convincing-looking chocolate kisses that were actually carob and made for dogs. (Even in the dark ages, we knew that chocolate was bad for dogs.)

This was a dog who would eat ANYTHING. He would dig up radishes in the garden and eat them. But he would not eat those carob kisses.

So I took them back to school with me and put them in a candy dish in my dorm room. Within 24 hours, they were gone and I heard no complaints.

So the next time somebody asks, "Which is hungrier - a beagle or a college student?" you'll know the answer.


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## lil_fuzzy (Aug 16, 2010)

I gave my very small dog an old chocolate container the other day, because he wondered what I was eating and he likes to investigate new objects. There were some chocolate crumbs left at the bottom of it, which he licked up and was fine.

I think the paranoia about chocolate and dogs is a bit exaggerated.


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## RonE (Feb 3, 2007)

> I think the paranoia about chocolate and dogs is a bit exaggerated.


I don't think anyone would suggest that a few crumbs of chocolate is going to harm a dog. A lot of us DO believe that dogs who get a small taste of chocolate will actively seek it out and you'll need to be extra diligent.

In that sense, they are like most people.

We had a runt dachshund when I was a kid who got into a package of chocolate flavored stuff that a rekative left out. There wasn't enough actual chocolate to hurt her but, unfortunately, the chocolate flavored stuff was Ex-Lax.

That was bad for everyone involved.


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## baredul (Mar 31, 2011)

I think chocolate paranoia is over rated. I had a GSD that ate whole chocolate bars when I got her. I didn't encourage this behavior but she was a chocolate nut. If you didn't stow it she ate it. Her daughters however were different. Ginger could tolerate and stole chocolate on a regular basis and wise fine.. her other daughter and of the same blood line and litter would puke her silly guts out. Recently a friend told me his lab had a siezure from one malt ball. I really feel it depends on the dog the amount of chocolate or the breed. If you haven't had a reaction by now go to sleep and rest I agree with a lot of the others.


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## Willowy (Dec 10, 2007)

baredul said:


> I think chocolate paranoia is over rated. I had a GSD that ate whole chocolate bars when I got her. I didn't encourage this behavior but she was a chocolate nut. If you didn't stow it she ate it. Her daughters however were different. Ginger could tolerate and stole chocolate on a regular basis and wise fine.. her other daughter and of the same blood line and litter would puke her silly guts out. Recently a friend told me his lab had a siezure from one malt ball. I really feel it depends on the dog the amount of chocolate or the breed. If you haven't had a reaction by now go to sleep and rest I agree with a lot of the others.


I won't say it's overrated. . .one ounce of baking chocolate WILL kill a 10-pound dog (provided he doesn't puke it up first). It's just that most people don't know how much chocolate is dangerous, so they start to panic if their Lab eats one Hershey's Kiss. It would take a lot of milk chocolate Kisses to be dangerous for a big dog.


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## sassafras (Jun 22, 2010)

Willowy said:


> I won't say it's overrated. . .one ounce of baking chocolate WILL kill a 10-pound dog (provided he doesn't puke it up first). It's just that most people don't know how much chocolate is dangerous, so they start to panic if their Lab eats one Hershey's Kiss. It would take a lot of milk chocolate Kisses to be dangerous for a big dog.


Well said. Or the converse that I hear all the time is that their Lab was fine after it ate some Hershey's Kisses, so chocolate isn't actually toxic to dogs at all. (This is actually one of my pet peeves, can you tell?  )

Like anything else, the toxicity depends on the dose -- which depends on the type of chocolate and the size of the dog. Most candy that dogs eat are either milk chocolate, chocolate covered, chocolate flavored, or in some other way doesn't actually have much theobromine in it. So most of the time dogs are fine after they get into our stuff, thank goodness. But I've seen plenty of dogs eat dark or baking chocolate (or enough milk chocolate, in small dogs) that were very touch and go situations.


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