DON'T FEED A DOG CHOCOLATE!

I heard that before, and I wonder if it's true or not. I also heard that it's not true. Maybe someone here knows.

no no, it's certainly true. ask littlek. poor bootsie found a load of chocolate once and nearly didn't live to tell the story.

Oh my goodness. Then it must be true.

Re: DON'T FEED A DOG CHOCOLATE!


I now about this but I don't think is true

Yeah, chocolate is toxic to canids - they lack an enzyme necessary to process it, and it screws up their blood chemistry. Onions and garlic ain't good for 'em, either (though some will happily graze on wild onion shoots - usually shortly thereafter cleaning themselves out in pretty disgusting manner).

Chocolate is toxic as well as onions, Macadamia nuts, Rhubarb leaves, raisins and grapes.

I seem to remember that the effect is cumulative too.. but I'm not sure of that.

I could swear I've seen garlic listed on some expensive dog food package ingredients list.

It's okay for bears though.

Tell that to my 8 year old Black Lab cross. She loves grapes and has never been sick a day in her life. She also eats raspberries, pears, apples, corn, carrots and potatoes. She is never allowed to eat chocolate but occasionally enjoys a nice cup of tea with milk.

Grapes and raisins are definitely a problem, my poor lil boy dog had to give up his Muesli toast fix.

a/t the german wikipedia site, it's the "theobromin" in the chocolate that can cause dogs to get sick or even die from "over-consumption" of chocolate. a study at the university of zurich has shown that a dog weighing appr, 20 pounds would have to eat THREE milkchocolate bars (about half-a-pound) before showing any ill effects. the effects would be more serious with dark chocolate. in germany "dog-chocolate" is sold in many stores, and i listenened to a vet on german TV who claimed that there is nothing wrong with giving a dog a small chocolate treat" - as usual, it's the amount that matters.
(i don't think i would feel well after eating three chocolate bars). hbg

I know about the Chocolate and Onions...
but Grapes nah thats not true my Rotty and Foxy scoff all my grapes when they become ripe, and they just end up with runny sh.ts

sick as a dog...fer sure.

frrom "talktothevet"

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We've all heard it, "Don't give your dog chocolate it will kill him". We'll how true is it you're probably wondering. Do I have to rush him to an emergency vet if he ate one of my M&M's?

The truth is chocolate contains theobromine that is toxic to dogs in sufficient quantities. This is a xanthine compound in the same family of caffeine, and theophylline.

Toxic Levels

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,
Milk chocolate contains 44 mg of theobromine per oz.
Semisweet chocolate contains 150mg/oz.
Baker's chocolate 390mg/oz.

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.

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so it seems to me that a small piece of milk chocolate (1/4 ounce or less) will likely not cause a problem.

kiwichick's dog is probably suffering the same problem a human would have from eating too many ripe grapes ... the trots ! hbg

theobromine is almost a flipped over molecule of caffeine. (stereoisomer). Coffee is also dangerous.
Im not sure about the garlic because one of my close friends is a rsearch vet who heads a nutrition section for animal feeds of the Purina Company. I know that they add a bit of garlic powder to canned dog foods and dry kibbles to make the food more tasty to the criters.

Imagine, they cant take a Hershey bar but they can eat road kill if you letem. (Course the roadkill can come back up at unwelcome times as they ralph all over the dining room floor ).

i've checked some of the dogfood we buy for cleo and bailey when they come to visit. most dogfoods list garlic powder as an ingredient - as i said , i think it's the amount of chocotate or garlic you feed them.
(cleo is particularly fond of the young , green hosta leaves in the spring - and also the green maple pips _ . she really enjoys them ... and it speeds up her digestion). hbg

Good points about the dosage/body weight correlation. A little bit of most things won't harm most critters, but too much, or in the wrong combinations, you've got problems. I'd say if you're gonna err, err on the side of caution.

On the garlic deal, the Timber Puppies pretty much love anything with garlic in it - pretty much love any sorta people food. We're not ultra-strict about it, but we do limit their intake of people food. On the other hand, they're pretty much welcome to, and do, eat anything they catch (or drag in from the fields or the woods). Well, they catch a lotta frogs around the pond and creek, but after a first experiment or two, they don't eat 'em.

I know I've read (but where, and how verifiable?) that onions' effects are cumulative - what I don't remember is about chocolate, or garlic.

I'm quite strict with the Pacc as he needs to eat well and keep slim, as he is what I think of, and another more corgi knowledgeable friend described, as a ranch corgi. No showy powder puff, he is exceptionally long and stalwart. Thus, with the long back, prone to weight inflicted back problems.

When I got him from the humane society, he ignored dog cookies... well, with the fine example of derby the dobie and parker the cocker he is well past that level of poor discernment. Still, he wasn't spoiled by too much human food previously, that I can tell.

One thing about corgis, they can't jump up and eat the evening's dinner from the counter..

we had a funny experience with cleo and bailey some time ago. a friend had given her some rather expensive health-food dog biscuits ... they turned their noses up at it ! no problem we thought; the dog next door will eat anything. "annie" came to visit to request her daily treat ... out came the health-food dog biscuits ... she gave us such a balefull look ... she sniffed ... another balefull look ... we knew we were beat ! so out came the standard dog-biscuits which were gratefully accepted. we left the health-food out for the squirrels ... no dice ! those animals know when to leave things alone ! we had a good laugh. hbg