Is Any Amount Of Chocolate A Problem?

[fiveplusone]

My 10 month old GSP just ate about 1-2 tablespoons of mud cake (woolworths brand).

Is that enough to be concerned about? He weighs 27 kgs.

(I posted in heath forum but there are more people online in general so posting here too!)

[Sandra777]

I would not be concerned - very small amount compared with his weight. But keep an eye on him, any problems straight to the vet no matter the time of day, but I really can't see it being an issue

[Remarkabull]

My little dogs (3-6kgs) have eaten more chocolate cake than that and have been fine. Dark choc and cooking choc is the worst kind but they would still have to eat more than a tablespoon to do any damage at the size your dog is.

[tarope]

No I wouldn't worry as that is a small amount, but remember chocolate is toxic to dogs so I don't give mine any amount.

[Enigma]

years ago my JRT ate a big choc rabbit at easter (this was before i knew the dangers). She never had a problem. She even unwrapped it without tearing the foil

[fiveplusone]

Thanks for your quick replies. I feel a bit less panicky now!

He's sleeping in my room at the moment for me to keep a close eye on as he only just had to go to vets on Thursday because he gorged himself on leaves and twigs and kept vomiting. Now I find him bench surfing and finding the last piece of mud cake! Thankfully I know the sound of crockery being moved around and raced out before he'd done too much damage.

[Kirov_grrl]

http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2007/10/...art-interactive

You might be able to work it out using this??

[fiveplusone]

http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2007/10/...art-interactive

You might be able to work it out using this??

Thats a good chart for any future reference (I've book marked it in case its ever needed!). I did google to find a similar thing but the problem is he ate cake and I have no idea the amounts of ingredients are in it so can't work out how much he's actually ingested.

Edited August 14, 2010 by fiveplusone

[Skitch]

I think it depends on the dog, really.. personally I wouldn't be TOO worried about a dog that size eating only a small amount of chocolate! Sure, it's not very good.. but I seriously doubt it will do your boy any real harm.. might make him feel a bit ick though ! My cattle dog mix who weighs 25-ish kilos got to a whole bag of easter eggs one year and devoured the lot.. I nearly had heart failure because I was sure she was going to die.. but 8 years later she's still fine.

[Jsk]

http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2007/10/...art-interactive

You might be able to work it out using this??

Thats a great link!!

[Diva]

A lot depends on the quality of the chocolate and the size of the dog. It affects their heart, so it's not a matter of an upset tummy. But a dog that size should not, I think, have a problem with that much cake. Depends on how much chocolate is in the cake. People get away with dogs stealing easter eggs etc because that chocolate has very little actual cocoa in it. The higher the quality of the chocolate and the darker the chocolate the greater the risk.

Edited August 14, 2010 by Diva

[FionaC]

oh dear .... naughty Hugo

on the up side Fiveplusone - sounds like Hugo is feeling better

[macka]

My 11kg dog has eaten a mini toblerone once before and she seemed to have a bit of a tummy ache for a few hours but after that she was fine.

Edited August 15, 2010 by macka

[Blakbelgian]

One year after the melbourne Royal my guys found my Bertie Beetle show bags and ate approx 10 of them

and were ok, runny poos but ok.

Another year they got into the Xmas presents and ate most of the bag of Soft Liqorice and opened the box of chocolate

liquors (sp?). we had a two hour drive after that episode and boy did we have the windows Open for most of the way there.

BB

[ellz]

Just remember too that it can have a slow buildup effect. Any dog may not necessarily show any sign of after-effects the first time, but that doesn't mean that the next time won't be fatal.

[fiveplusone]

Just remember too that it can have a slow buildup effect. Any dog may not necessarily show any sign of after-effects the first time, but that doesn't mean that the next time won't be fatal.

Ellz, I wasn't aware of that. So even though Hugo only had a little amount this time, are you saying that even another tiny amount on another occasion will be a problem?

Is there anything that can be kept at home to administer in that event or is it always an emergency trip to the vet?

[ellz]

No, not WILL be....MIGHT be.

The problem is that you will never actually know. The vast majority of people are sensible, but I've known of people who have had a dog steal chocolate, or who have given it chocolate on one or two occasions and not had an issue so they have decided that obviously it isn't going to be a problem in the future and kept on giving chocolate, or started giving chocolate....with disastrous effect.