Today I found out why chocolate is bad for dogs.
Chocolate contains an alkaloid called “theobromine”. Theobromine is in the same family as caffeine and is a type of stimulant (they both are mythylxanines). Theobromine stimulates the central nervous system, cardiovascular system, and causes a slightly increases blood pressure.
Dogs and certain other animals, such as horses and cats, cannot metabolize theobromine as quickly as humans can; this causes the above effects to be much more severe than is the case with humans. The specific notable side effects of toxic levels of theobromine in dogs includes: diarrhea; vomiting; increased urination; muscle twitching; excessive panting; hyperactive behavior; whining; dehydration; digestive problems; seizures; and rapid heart rate. Some of these symptoms, like the rapid heart rate, can ultimately be fatal to the dog.
So how much chocolate is too much for a dog? That depends on the size and age of the dog, as well as what type of chocolate was consumed. The larger the dog, the more theobromine they can handle without dying and older dogs tend to have more problems with the side effects, as noted above.
As far as the chocolate itself, cocoa powder contains about sixteen times as much theobromine per ounce over milk chocolate, with most popular forms of chocolate falling somewhere between those two, excepting white chocolate, which contains insignificant amounts of theobromine per ounce, making it extremely unlikely to be able to be consumed in sufficient quantities to harm a dog.
For more specific figures, here are the approximate amounts of theobromine per ounce of chocolate:
- Cocoa powder: 800 mg/oz
- Baker’s chocolate (unsweetened): 450 mg/oz
- Dark chocolate: 150 mg/oz
- Milk chocolate: 50 mg/oz
So, the general rules for the amount of chocolate that will be toxic for a dog:
- Milk chocolate: one ounce per pound of body weight (so, without intervention, a 16 pound dog (7.2 kg) would likely die from eating one pound of milk chocolate)
- Dark chocolate: 1/3 of an ounce per pound of body weight (around 5 ounces of dark chocolate for that same 16 pound dog)
- Baker’s chocolate: 1/9 of an ounce per pound of body weight (around 1.8 ounces of baker’s chocolate for a 16 pound dog)
- Cocoa powder: 1/16 of an ounce per pound of dog (around 1 ounce of cocoa powder to kill a 16 pound dog)
On the other extreme end, it would take about 200 pounds of white chocolate consumed within a 17 hour period to reach toxic levels of theobromine for a 16 pound dog. The low quantity of theobromine here is because white chocolate is made from cocoa butter, sugar, and milk, but no cocoa solids.
How to Treat a Dog That Has Eaten Chocolate
There is little that can be done for the dog, particularly at home, to treat the theobromine poisoning once it’s in the dog’s bloodstream. Thus, the general methods of treatment tend to be ways to try to stop the consumed theobromine from reaching the bloodstream. These include:
- Inducing vomiting in the dog immediately, which helps remove much of the chocolate.
- After that, try to get the dog to eat a small amount of activated charcoal, which binds to the theobromine and keeps it from entering the bloodstream.
- Try to get the dog to consume as much water as possible to keep them hydrated.
- At the vet, certain drugs can be used to help the dog survive, such as anti-convulsants, which can help if the dog is having seizures.
In order to induce vomiting, the easiest way, aside from sticking your finger down their throat or the like, which isn’t at all recommended, is to get the dog to eat something like 1-2 tsp of hydrogen peroxide, which should shortly induce vomiting and can be repeated a few times every 15 minutes, if it does not. Alternatively, 2-3 tsp of Syrup of Ipecac should do the trick, though this one should NOT be repeated, even if it doesn’t work the first time.
For the activated charcoal, about 1-2 tsp of activated charcoal mixed thoroughly with water should be fed to the dog. This also works well for certain other types of toxins that dogs and cats can sometimes consume, such as: carbamate insecticides, herbicides, and rodenticides.
Bonus Factoids:
- Once the theobromine is in the dog’s bloodstream, the half-life is around 17.5 hours, so 24 hours or so after the dog has consumed the chocolate, if it is still alive, it’s probably going to make it.
- Cats also are particularly susceptible to poisoning from chocolate for the same reason dogs are. However, unlike dogs, cats generally aren’t particularly inclined to eat chocolate, having no “sweet” taste receptors.
- Horses can consume much more theobromine than dogs, despite how toxic it is for them oz/kg, due to their much higher weight. Theobromine has been used in the past to boost a horse’s performance, which is why it is banned in horse racing.
- Theobromine can also be found in the leaves of the tea plant and the cola nut.
- Human’s metabolize theobromine much faster than dogs, but sufficient quantities of this compound over a short enough time span can also induce similar toxic effects as can be found in dogs, though this is rare as the quantities required are much higher. However, theobromine poisoning can sometimes be observed in elderly people who eat excessive amounts of chocolate on a daily basis.
- Human’s consuming caffeine will introduce theobromine into the body due to the fact that caffeine is metabolized in the liver into about 10% theobromine.
- The earliest documented case of the cacao tree being cultivated is around 1100 BC in South and Central America.
- It isn’t entirely known where the word “chocolate” came from, though it was introduced in English via Spanish. The popular theory, though not without credible competition, is that it was introduced to Spanish from the Nahuatl word “chocolātl”. Nahuatl was the language of the Aztecs. This word, in turn, derives from the Nahuatl “xocolātl” from “xococ”, which means “sour or bitter”, and “ātl”, meaning “water or drink”. The Aztecs particularly were known to make a “bitter drink” from cocao beans, which is where the above name came from.
- Around 50 million people in the world depend on cocoa as their source of livelihood.
- Around 2/3 of the world’s cocoa is produced in West Africa, largely by child labor.
Sources:
i am an animal nutritionist. i have been for 13 years. i phone 11 vets and the nebraska university medical center. as suspected, no new studies have been shown to theobromine (a common sodium based food ingredient used to keep vegetable oils from drying or hardening) causes any such symptoms even in enormous quantities. also, chocolate liquer used in expensive chocolates cause liver damage to dogs in the long term. short term, chocolate has no effect on dogs. hersheys, chocolate flavorings such as coco powder (no, its not real chocolate) has no effect whatsoever. i would appreciate it, if before you started spreading blatant lies to pay back whoever it was your upset at that feeds dogs chocolate and condones it, site your sources, give an option for others to contact, cause most of us know this is a total lie, and above all else, fact check. thanks.
@Tony S: And your sources for these statements are? I only wonder because when you research why chocolate is bad for dogs, every single reputable source out there says it’s because of the theobromine. And yes, if you look above I did cite my sources, unlike you, but here are some more for your viewing pleasure: one from a vet; another one from a vet; yet another one from a vet; here’s one that you say doesn’t exist (one that is a paper showing the effects of theobromine on a dog); here’s one from the Merck Veterinary Manual; here’s one from the American Veterinary Medical Association… I could go on and on and on.
I’m perfectly willing to admit when I’m wrong and change things accordingly. I take the content of this site, in terms of the factual nature of everything said on it, extremely seriously and I have a significant background in research, so I generally do a pretty good job at making sure nothing you read here is going to be false (when there is even a question, I simply don’t do that article once I see that). The very few times I’ve been wrong on some point or another (so far I’ve never been wrong on the main point of the article *knock on wood*), I’m very interested in changing it to make sure I don’t spread any misiniformation, which is the opposite of what this site is about.
In any event, given all these sources (and many, many more out there), in order to convince me that all these professionals are wrong, you’re going to have to do better than just saying you’re an animal nutritionist. Though, from the tone of your comment and the lack of sources, I suspect you’re actually just a comment troll. But I also can’t have comment troll’s spreading misinformation on my site, so I included the above additional sources.
Yeah, Daven, he’s most likely a troll. he can’t spell for crap. also, theobromine is found in chocolate, so it can’t be sodium-based. But if he really thinks he’s right, let’s feed chocolate to his dog and do a study on it, just so there’ll be a recent one.
Daven, your patience and restraint are commendable. Not a few webmasters faced with a “comment” like that from Tony S. would have verbally eviscerated the commenter, humiliated him beyond redemption, and blocked him from ever commenting again.
Actually, though-out history only three dogs have ever died from theobromine. FYI, my small-ish dog (25 lbs) has eaten lots of chocolate at once and wasn’t even slightly sick. The compound is also found in coffee, cola and tea. I have given entire bowls of coffee to a larger dog and they loved it. This whole thing is BS made by someone who doesn’t want their status symbol to be enjoyed by ‘beasts’ as well as them. They thought the same of ‘blacks’ in earlier ages (also thought of as ‘beasts’) as well as ‘lower’ classes.
As you can see, the theobromine issue is the same as global warming. One person started it and had enough money to have the results say what they wanted.
P.S. they also say the same thing about garlic and onions for the SAME compound. Amazingly, another dog of mine (a lab mix, approx 50 lbs) ate half a basket(1′ diameter) of onions and had no side effects whatsoever.
Experience bests ‘studies’ since they are all biased to one way or the other anymore. Either way, I KNOW that theobromine is safe for dogs. Of course if your little poodle gets into a pound of chocolate, of course its going to get sick. So will a four year old.
@Daven
I also forgot to mention, EVERY site I read that said that ‘fact’ cited the EXACT SAME site that did the study, furthering my findings.
Tony’s post is scary. I am a veterinarian and I have definitely seen dogs die from theobromine toxicity. If you’re looking for studies, here’s a whole bunch of them: http://scholar.google.ca/scholar?hl=en&q=theobromine+toxicity+dog&btnG=Search&as_sdt=0%2C5&as_ylo=&as_vis=0
By the way, this is a great article that you have written. I have a chocolate toxicity calculator for dogs that would be a great addition if you’d like to add it: http://www.askavetquestion.com/chocolate_toxicity.php
The LD50 for theobromine for humans is 3.33 times the LD50 for dogs. So to figure out how much chocolate it takes to kill your dog, figure out how much chocolate you would have to eat to kill yourself (per kilogram), then divide that by 3.33 and multiply by the weight of your dog in kilograms. Then don’t feed your dog that much chocolate.
@Reki
Only 3 dogs in history that have died from chocolate toxicity? We have had more than that at the animal hospital I work for.
Onions not bad for dogs? Tell that to the Springer we did multiple blood transfusions on.
Stop spreading false information just because you had one incident that turned out for the best.
D. Spencer, CVT (that’s CERTIFIED VETERINARY TECHINICIAN)
So my 3.75 lb morkie ingested much of a tiny “tube” of mini m&m’s at some point today, and we aren’t sure when it was. The boys left it on their floor. I called our vet. She said to give him 5 ml of hydrogen peroxide to make him throw up. We did, and he did – about four times. Emptied everything in his stomach. Didn’t find evidence of a single m&m, which means he possibly ate it earlier today? No symptoms yet (other than that he’s really mad at us for making him throw up). I’ve looked at all kinds of sites. When would he start having symptoms? I love my puppy, but I am sick as a dog, exhausted, and have to teach tomorrow. I cannot possibly stay up all night and watch him. Is there anything I could do for him if he DOES start having symptoms? Tks!