How much chocolate is poisonous?

[Shamrock]

As an unpleasant Easter suprise :sad:, my sons new puppy found and ate one of those tiny little chocolate eggs yesterday afternoon. It had been hidden for their daughters egg- hunt, but not retrieved.
Because of the holiday, they wound up having to take her to an emergency animal clinic, where the vet said too much time had elapsed to do anything but to just watch her closely - sent her home.

Just talked to my daughter-in-law - the dog is fine, suffered no ill effects.
I dont know how much chocolate an animal can eat before it becomes a serious health hazard?
The puppy is just ten weeks old, a mini-doxie that weighs only about 2 or 3 pounds, I'd say.

An upsetting (and expensive) lesson for these new dog owners. Candy hidden will be found...

[Prin]

I have heard that 2 oz of dark and 7 oz of milk can be fatal to a medium sized dog. But it depends on the dog aswell. My friend's dog at a chocolate sculpture (2KG of semi sweet!!!) and they didn't even notice a change in him, whereas my great-aunt's dog ate a small box of turtles and died... They aren't even that chocolatey...

[Luvmypit]

well I guess it depends on the chocolate, the size of the dog and the size of the chocolate.
I had put out the chocolate the night before and locked the dog in with me. When I woke up and came out my stepdaughter said she was finished finding them all but I found like 3 others that she was missing. Luckily they were high up and I made sur ethe dog wasn't let out till I got up. Just have to be careful.

[SnowDancer]

The dark chocolate - particularly baking chocolate - is most harmful - but too much milk chocolate can also be lethal - weight, health, how much eaten all must be considered - and a trip to the vet in every case of course. Lesson to be learned - a mini Dachshund will find any food item - no matter where it is hidden. Top kitchen cupboard being no exception - all you need is a cat who can follow orders. Or a chair that can access the counter so that puppy dog can swing himself up. The voice of experience speaking here. Really happy that puppy is okay.

[Shamrock]

I am going to see them this afternoon, so have done a netsearch and printed out some info on this to give to her. (not that this would even happen again now)

It's not just the size of the dog, but the type of chocolate consumed.. white chocolate being the least toxic, bakers chocolate the most.
Its all to do with theobromine.


A quote from one site:
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"To answer the question "How much is too much" is not simple. The
health and age of your dog must be considered. Obviously if your dog is aged and not in top shape, his reaction to a plate of chocolate is going to be different from a young healthy dog of the same weight.

Another fact that must be considered is this: Not all chocolate
is the same. Some has a small amount of theobromine; another type has a large amount and still another contains an amount that is somewhere in between.
The quantity has a relationship with the weight of your dog. Small dogs can be poisoned, it is easy to understand, from smaller amounts of theobromine than large dogs.

Which chocolate is the safest, relatively speaking? White
chocolate. It has the least amount of theobromine: 1 mg per ounce.
Far on the other side of the spectrum is baking chocolate, which has a
huge 450 mg of theobromine per ounce!
Here are a few other chocolates for you to ponder:
-hot chocolate, 12 mg of theobromine per ounce;
-milk chocolate, 60 mg/oz; and up there near baking chocolate
-semi-sweet chocolate with 260 mg/oz.

Knowing which chocolate is the most toxic is important, but
leaves one wondering how much must be eaten to poison a dog.


List of 4 items
White chocolate: 200 ounces per pound of body weight. It takes
250 pounds of white chocolate to cause signs of poisoning in a 20-pound dog,125 pounds for a 10-pound dog.


Milk chocolate: 1 ounce per pound of body weight. Approximately
one pound of milk chocolate is poisonous to a 20-pound dog; one-half pound for a 10-pound dog. The average chocolate bar contains 2 to 3 ounces of milk chocolate. It would take 2-3 candy bars to poison a 10 pound dog. Semi-sweet chocolate has a similar toxic level.


Sweet cocoa: 0.3 ounces per pound of body weight. One-third of
a pound of sweet cocoa is toxic to a 20-pound dog; 1/6 pound for a 10-pound dog.

Baking chocolate: 0.1 ounce per pound body weight. Two
one-ounce squares of bakers' chocolate is toxic to a 20-pound dog; one ounce for a 10-pound dog"
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These scales may vary from site to site and different sources and should certainly be considered a very rough guideline ONLY.
When it comes to such serious matters as a possible poisoning, a vet's opinion on the exact nature of the circumstances and the pet in question would be absolutely mandatory in EVERY case.