How Much Chocolate Can Your Dog Eat?

My dog once ate an entire platter - a double batch - of chocolate fudge.  You couldn't even tell that there had been any fudge on the platter, it was that clean!  She didn't die but she did vomit quite a bit.  Here's what you need to know:

• It's theobromine, not caffeine, that dogs doesn't sit well with dogs.
• It causes vomiting, diahrrea, then an increase in heart rate, muscle tremors and eventually seizures. 
• Baking chocolate has six times more theobromine than milk chocolate.
• How much chocolate your dog can eat depends on his/her size.  Four ounces of milk chocolate may be too much for a small dog.  My 70 pound lab/retreiver mix had about eight ounces of baking chocolate.
• Call your vet if your dog ingests a lot of chocolate.  They can tell you, based on the dog's size and the amount of chocolate, whether you should bring your dog in.  My vet told me to run around with my dog to help her start vomiting but said that she'd be fine.

So your dog can eat chocolate ... it's just not a very good idea.

Photo by Farl.

Comments

[nicol freeman]

dogs can not eat chocolate!!

[andrew lye]

my staffy found a bag with 4lb of choolate brazil nuts in it and ate the lot,no sickness or diaohrea.sludge guts.

[Shelly]

If your dog eat's chocolate and you find out right away give them a teaspoon of salt and put them outside they will vomit it up, give them plenty of water and contact your vet to be on the safe side.