# My dog has a VERY strong heartbeat?? (murmurs?)



## bobbobobbo (Jan 1, 2008)

*HELP my dog has a VERY strong heartbeat?? (murmurs?)*

Starting earlier today, my small terrier mix has developed these strong ticks. Upon looking closely and placing my hand under his chest, it appears these are in tune with his heart. They are quite strong fairly fast murmurs, it shakes his entire body. His personality I suppose is about the same as always, nothing too odd. 

1 of my 5 dogs ate some chocolate left on our table this morning and one of them had vomited, definitely could have been him. Could as well be one of the others though, just trying to give all information. 

Its new years eve and we have a snow storm right now in Illinois, its not going to be so easy to get to medical attention. 

If anyone has ANY input it would be greatly appreciated.

Him on the left from about a year ago, not much bigger at all now.


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## Durbkat (Jun 26, 2007)

You need to get all 5 dogs to the vet now because chocolate is poison to dogs and since you don't know which you will need to take all the dogs.


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## bobbobobbo (Jan 1, 2008)

Just got off the phone with the emergency hospital.

According to the doctor there is a lot of variables. He said it could possibly be him experiencing a "cocaine-like" high, in which its not exactly fatal. They asked about how he is acting, as well told him, he is acting pretty normal.

I checked the chocolate he ate, seems like standard milk chocolate, I will post the ingredients soon.

An interesting article -
http://sandwalk.blogspot.com/2007/02/can-your-dog-die-of-chocolate.html


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## Dakota Spirit (Jul 31, 2007)

If the vet didn't seem worried then I think you may be ok - at least until morning. I'd keep an eye on your pooch though, just in case anything changes.

Typically it is the baking chocolate that makes for a real threat.


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## bobbobobbo (Jan 1, 2008)

The chocolate is the chocolate chips used for fondue. 

Ingredients: Sugar, partially hydrogenated palm kernel oil, whey powder, cocoa (processed with alkali), cocoa powder, soya lecithin (an emulsifier), vanillin (artificial flavor)

seems like somewhat normal chocolate to me.


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## ACampbell (Oct 7, 2007)

So they are semi-sweet or sweet morsels? Bakers chocolate is bitter and very dark...nothing like milk chocolate. 

My neighbors (yes for those of you who have read my posts, same bozo neighbor) 10 lb dog got into an entire box of chocolate (given to them as an x-mas gift and she tore through the box to get it) right before X-mas...they didn't even bother calling the vet or taking her...she was throwing up everywhere...she recovered but it was bad for awhile. I loved getting a 1 AM phone call that says "my dog ate chocolate, she's really sick...what do I do?" and here's me "It's 1 AM, take her to the E-vet if she's that sick, why are you calling me and not them?" - my neighbor hasn't called me in almost a week 

Hopefully your pup suffers no ill effects, other than vomiting already. Quantity has a big deal to do with in these situations...and like I said before, dark chocolate is the really bad stuff.


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## bobbobobbo (Jan 1, 2008)

Thank you to all who have helped. As of right now he seems to be calming down, his heartbeat is still slightly rapid, but not nearly as strong. It has been about 20 hours since he ate the chocolate. We think he will be alright.

We measured about 10oz of chocolate was removed, not sure how much he had, but he was definitely affected. It was the sweet chips, thank god we didn't buy the dark or gourmet chocolate stuff they sold. Either way it definitely could have been a very serious situation. From the help I've been given and the research I've done, it definitely holds true that smaller dogs can easily be poisoned by chocolate. 

Thanks again to everyone. I hope that this might also aid anyone else in the future that may come across a similar scary situation.


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## lovemygreys (Jan 20, 2007)

I'm glad it seems like your pup will be OK. Though milk chocolate is 'safe' than bakers chocolate, we always keep it on top of the Fridge and out of reach of the dogs. Flavored coffee is also something our dogs love it they can reach it (we learned that one the hard way after they snatched a sealed bag of 5lbs of coffee beans and ate several pounds of it before we caught them.

One thing to keep on hand is hydrogen peroxide. Given orally, it will make a dog throw up. Nothing funner than 12+ dogs vomiting in the garage after the coffee bean incident!  (but it's defintely better than a trip to the e-vet).


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## RonE (Feb 3, 2007)

You will need to be extra diligent now. I have heard that, once a dog has eaten chocolate, he will actively seek it out in the future.

This is certainly true of humans.


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## tcasby (Apr 30, 2007)

Does anyone know of a dog that actually got seriously ill (or worse) from a moderate amount of chocolate?


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