harley
Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso) Give me a forum ...
My pup seems fine this morning. She's a Silkie so she weighs in at 11 pounds but that's still small for a doggie chocoholic. Maddie is a thief too. She will break and enter anyone purse that is unguarded - that's how she got her chocolate fix last night.
The fat content in the chocolate orange was 16% so the vet was also concerned with the possibility of developing pancreatitis - so watch out for those falling bratwursts.
I've had a number of dogs, all of which have gotten into chocolate at some point in their lives. After never seeing the catastrophic responses I was led to believe would happen, I did some research. Here's what I've discovered. The bad thing in chocolate is theobromine, which is a caffeine like substance.
The good news is that it takes, on average, a fairly large amount of theobromine (100-150 mg/kg) to cause a toxic reaction. Although there are variables to consider like the individual sensitivity, animal size and chocolate concentration.
On average,
White chocolate - 1.1 mg of theobromine and caffeine per ounce of chocolate;
Milk chocolate - 64 mg of theobromine and caffeine per ounce of chocolate;
Dark sweet chocolate - 150 mg of theobromine and caffeine per ounce of chocolate;
Instant cocoa powder - 151 mg of theobromine and caffeine per ounce of chocolate;
Unsweetened baking chocolate - 440 mg of theobromine and caffeine per ounce of chocolate;
Dry coca powder - 808 mg of theobromine and caffeine per ounce of chocolate.
Using a dose of 100 mg/kg as the toxic dose it comes out roughly as:
1 ounce per 1 pound of body weight for Milk chocolate
1 ounce per 3 pounds of body weight for Semisweet chocolate
1 ounce per 9 pounds of body weight for Baker's chocolate.
So, for example, 2 oz. of Baker's chocolate can cause great risk to an 15 lb. dog. Yet, 2 oz. of Milk chocolate usually will only cause digestive problems.
Just fyi.