About half of all dogs die when they have a level of theobromine between 100- 200 mg per kg of body weight.But dogs can start displaying symptoms of chocolate poisoning at as little as 20 mg theobromine per kilogram of weight. How to use an online calculatorThe calculator will need three key bits of information from you; the weight of your dog, how much chocolate they ate and the type of dark chocolate that your dog ate. But although all of that information is useful and helps you understand a bit more about theobromine, it doesn’t give you specific information on your dog’s chances of being poisoned.And for that you need an online calculator. Using this calculator I want to show how the size of the dog affects the chances of it becoming poisoned. It may take up to 6 hours for your pup to show symptoms after their naughty indulgence. Those in the know believe that a dog will typically show symptoms of chocolate poisoning within about 6- 12 hours of eating chocolate.

What are the symptoms of theobromine poisoning? Milk and white chocolates are far less «threatening» to a dog’s health.What do I mean by dark chocolate? In white chocolate, those numbers get even bigger. White chocolate has an insignificant amount of cocoa, but can still cause a gut upset resulting in vomiting and diarrhea. But even if your dog consumes milk chocolate, they will still be exposed to these substances. These substances are highly toxic to dogs, known as methylxanthines, and cannot be metabolized by them like humans can. Chocolate is poisonous to dogs because it contains a chemical called theobromine- which is a stimulant similar to caffeine.Whereas the worst this stimulant does for humans is to provide a bit of a «buzz», it is far more dangerous for dogs.Dogs experience a buzz too but because their systems cannot cope with the stimulation, in the worst cases this buzz can lead to tremors, seizures and cardiac arrests. Dogs will be okay if they have consumed a very small amount of chocolate, but that «small» amount is truly very tiny in comparison to how much we humans are used to eating. As far as I can see there are four main types of dark chocolate- semi sweet, bittersweet, solid or bakers.

A dog that has eaten a piece of dark chocolate would start to experience symptoms sooner than they would if the chocolate had less theobromine in it. If your dog has eaten an entire bag of baking chocolate they will need to go see their veterinarian immediately for emergency treatment. Your veterinarian can take over your dog’s treatment at that point. Treatment is mostly stabilization by neutralizing the symptoms and elimination of the theobromine. Chocolate is toxic for dogs due to both its caffeine content and a chemical called theobromine. Chocolate contains caffeine and theobromine, which are both extremely harmful. Dogs cannot metabolize both caffeine and theobromine, leading to a build-up in their body. Chocolate chip cookies contain chocolate, which is poisonous to dogs. If it is a homemade cake or a choco chip cookie, then you need to write down the amount and the ingredients you used to make it and let the vet know in detail. And the ingredients list on the packaging might also alert the vet to any other toxic ingredients that your dog may have consumed, such as macadamia nuts or raisins… Even if your vet sends you home, make sure to monitor those symptoms and take your dog back to the professionals if things deteriorate.

Even one raisin can be toxic to dogs. How can dogs take amoxicillin I stop my dog from eating dark chocolate bars? Chocolate is one of the few human foods that, no matter how tempting it is, should never be shared with our dogs.And it is a really difficult one to manage because we all lead busy lives and forget to put things away or tidy up after ourselves now and again.And another thing that makes it hard is that young children love chocolate and dogs adore young children especially young children eating chocolate! On top of that, the answer to this question really depends on the type of chocolate we’re talking about – for example, dark chocolate is much stronger and much worse for your pet. You need to think and act very quickly.For reasons that I explain below, dark chocolate is very dangerous to dogs. A dog would need to only eat a single ounce of the more dangerous stuff to be poisoned, but can eat between eight and ten ounces of milk chocolate. But we do need to exercise extreme care with foods like chocolate. This is used to stop dogs from eating or grabbing something within their reach that they’re either showing interest in or would like to eat.