Dogs & Chocolate & How Much is Deadly

[Pomp]

Originally Posted by afears01

Bailey, my two year old Boxer, is AWFUL about chocolate. At Christmas, she stole, yes, stole, about 6 pieces of chocolate fudge from several plates. She did not touch the ham, turkey, or anything else, just turned her head sideways (I didn't see her, but I know what she looks like when she tries to eat from a plate that sits on a table), and took the pieces of fudge off. When several family members noticed that their fudge was gone (we had all gotten up to praise my 3 year old for going potty.....big deal in our house!), we started to ask my 4 year old what he had done with the fudge. He swore over and over that he didn't have any. I smelled his breath, and realized immediately that he was indeed telling the truth. The only other culprit was the dog. She was sitting quietly in her crate, although it was not locked, that's just where she goes when we eat. When I went to check, there was a very small piece of chocolate in the corner, slobbery but uneaten. She had no side effects, but I took her to the vet a couple of days later just in case. The vet had a good laugh, checked her stool sample, and proclaimed her to be naughty, but fine.

That's nothing. One of my beagles found an Xmas-wrapped box of Godiva chocolates that was buried in a closet. She ripped open the wrapping paper, plastic casing around the box, the box itself, and ate all the chocolates.

Needless to say, the results were not pretty. We rushed her to an animal hospital where they induced vomitting. Her entire stomach area was swollen and expanded. She basically had a block of chocolate in her stomach.

It was very scary.

[cowgurl6254]

Thanks for the article! One Christmas my sheltie, Beau, dug into a christmas present while the rest of the family was sleeping. The present was a solid milk chocolate Santa. Beau ate the entire thing and never had an ill effect from it. We have been more careful since then though, but I don't think it's as dangerous as the myths say.

[Giny]

Originally Posted by cowgurl6254

Thanks for the article! One Christmas my sheltie, Beau, dug into a christmas present while the rest of the family was sleeping. The present was a solid milk chocolate Santa. Beau ate the entire thing and never had an ill effect from it. We have been more careful since then though, but I don't think it's as dangerous as the myths say.

It's not a myth, lots dogs have gotten really ill or died from eating dark chocolate. You were fortunate that it didn't affect Beau, lots of owners and dogs weren't so lucky.

[Mordy]

I agree with Giny - be glad you were that lucky.

Consider it like falling out of the window from the second floor - how likely are you to land on the ground without a single bone in your body broken?

it's truly not a myth. it all depends on the dogs size, what kind of chocolate and how much they eat. personally i think it also depends on the dogs tolerance level. i could be wrong, but i haven't seen anyone mention it in this thread yet.
ex: i've known people that would give their dogs a little nibble of chocolate to (hopefully) build up some tolerance to the toxin in case their dogs ever got into some and they weren't around. they'd give chocolate once a day, just a little, almost every day. the dogs were big, and never got sick...but they also never tested the "theory" of building up a tolerance either.

any thoughts?

[CanadianK9]

We had a small shih tzu, he ate a 5 pound chocolate bunny and he was fine, I personally think it depends on the dog.

[jn527]

It really depends on the dog, we have a 10 year BF and he ate bars and bars of chocolate. He loves the stuff. He'll eat it and then vomit it up. Sigh, when we first got him we didn't realize he was large enough to reach the table and pull stuff down or could jump on it from the sofa. So he pulled a bag of nestle bars for trick or treater kids and ate a bunch. Even funnier he stuff a bunch of them down into the couch, which explains how and why the wrappers kept appearing for weeks after threw out the rest of the bars. He will consistently try to eat chocolate unless we outsmart him, and now we know to either put everything way up or hidden.

[Citrus007]

I read someone that 1 lb of chocolate can kill a 16 lb dog. Did you knows raisins and grapes are also poisonous, as well as garlic, onions and coffee?

[Trip]

My border collie got ahold of hubbys vodka chocolates last christmas, ate the whole package... he seemed quite pleased with himself... or drunk... hard to tell. At least there was no health repercussions. Just like every year at x-mas he has 1 (and only 1, no matter how much he begs...) shot of Baileys after supper. It doesn't bother him and he seems to enjoy it... he's a very festive dog.

lmao @ ^
Ours like to drink whiskey. At least Tira does, Gunner is to young to try any. He seems more picky than her anyways. Maybe he won't become a drinker. She only gets one capful (not even a full shot). But she'll try to come back for more or lick the top of the glass you're drinking from to get more. Silly dog!