What happens if a boxer eats chocolate

If you have a dog weighing 10kg, as little as a few grams of cocoa powder could potentially result in your dog suffering seizures. Popular versions of drinking chocolate tend to have similar, or lower, levels of theobromine to milk chocolate. That means a 10kg dog would need to ingest up to g of drinking chocolate to suffer toxic effects. While some do not show any clinical signs after eating chocolate, others develop severe signs such as seizures and irregular heart rhythms.

The toxic chemical in chocolate, theobromine, has been used in human medicine as a heart stimulant and a muscle relaxant. On top of that it dilates blood vessels and can lead to potentially lethal over-stimulation of the heart.

The most typical symptoms are sickness and diarrhoea, which may contain blood, as well as restlessness and hyperactivity, rapid breathing, muscle tension, incoordination, increased heart rate and seizures. If you discover your dog ate chocolate try to work out what type it was, how much they ate and when they ate it.

Our chocolate toxicity calculator can help with this. If your dog has eaten a potentially toxic amount you should call your vet or, out of hours, your nearest Vets Now. This is the case for all white chocolate products, including those which claim to contain cocoa solids.

But bear in mind white chocolate is high in fat, buttermilk and sugar so may cause a stomach upset. A good quality g bar of dark chocolate can contain as much as mg of theobromine. But even lower quality grades of dark chocolate are dangerous to dogs.

Never resort to home remedies to treat dogs for chocolate poisoning. This way you can work out whether the dose is toxic enough to warrant urgent veterinary treatment. Call your vet for advice or, out of hours, your nearest Vets Now. It will help your vet if you can tell them how much chocolate your dog ate, what type it was — wrappers can be very helpful — and when your dog ate it.

In other cases, the veterinarian may prefer you bring the dog into the clinic. If your pet consumed the chocolate less than two hours ago, your veterinarian may induce vomiting and give him several doses of activated charcoal, which works to move the toxins out of the body without being absorbed into the bloodstream.

For more severe cases, veterinary intervention may be needed to provide supplemental treatment, such as medications or IV fluids, to resolve the effects of the poisoning.

Dogs suffering from seizures may need to be monitored at the clinic overnight. To prevent your dog from sneaking chocolate, follow these tips:. Put it away: Make sure all chocolate items, including cocoa powder and hot chocolate mix, are stored where the dog cannot reach them, such as on a high shelf in a closed-door pantry.

Offer toys, a stuffed Kong , a favorite blanket , and treats to help him feel like the crate is his personal den. Compare Breeds Compare up to 5 different breeds side by side. Other sources include chewable, flavored multi-vitamins, baked goods, or chocolate-covered espresso beans. The chemical toxicity is due to a methylxanthine like theobromine , and results in vomiting, diarrhea, hyperactivity, inflammation of the pancreas i.

With Halloween right around the corner, make sure your kids know to hide the stash from your dogs. In smaller dogs, even the wrappers from candy can result in a secondary obstruction in the stomach or intestines. The darker the chocolate, the larger the amount of theobromine, a cousin chemical to caffeine, that it contains. White chocolate has very little theobromine and will not cause chocolate poisoning in pets. Ingestions of small amounts of chocolate may cause mild vomiting and diarrhea.

Larger ingestions can cause severe agitation, tachycardia elevated heart rate , abnormal heart rhythms, tremors, seizures and collapse. Induce vomiting and give multiple doses activated charcoal to decontaminate. Aggressive IV fluids to help with excretion, sedatives to calm the pet, specific heart medications to reduce the heart rate and blood pressure, anti-convulsants for seizures, antacids such as Pepcid for stomach discomfort and diarrhea.

Theobromine may be reabsorbed across the bladder wall so a urinary catheter or frequent walks are needed to keep the bladder empty. Now she has a tender stomach, is off her food, but is drinking. What should I do? After three days, the toxic ingredients in the chocolate will have cleared her system. However, the richness of chocolate can trigger pancreatitis, which is an inflammation of the pancreas.

This is a painful condition which causes vomiting, loss of appetite, and diarrhea. Make sure she is drinking, and only offer bland food such as chicken and rice to eat. If she does not improve within a few hours, see a vet. Not Helpful 27 Helpful My dog ate milk chocolate raisins. He is acting normally, but should I be worried? This is double trouble because both raisins and chocolate are toxic to dogs.

The chocolate acts quickly within minutes or hours , so if he's okay, that's good news. However, raisins can cause kidney failure, which might not show for days and weeks. It's best he has a blood test at the vet's to check if damage was done. Not Helpful 18 Helpful Chocolate is a stimulant and has a variety of effects which include sickness and diarrhea, a racing heart, hyperactivity, and, in the worst cases, seizures, coma, and death.

If your dog has a tummy upset, a galloping heart, and is unusually bouncy, then he might have ingested chocolate. Not Helpful 15 Helpful My dog is a mini-pin chihuahua mix. Someone left some chocolate out, and I'm not sure if she ate some. It's been over two hours, but I don't have any hydrogen peroxide. Watch her closely and be vigilant for sickness, diarrhea, or being unusually active chocolate is a stimulant and can make her hyperactive.

If she has an upset stomach, then starve her for 24 hours but allow her access to clean drinking water. If she is overactive, then she should see a vet as this can also affect her heart and possibly cause seizures. Do not make her vomit once it has been over two hours since the suspected chocolate ingestion.

Not Helpful 34 Helpful One of the stimulants in chocolate is also a diuretic. The latter is a substance which causes the kidney to produce more urine, so the dog will pee more and need to drink to replace the lost fluid. Not Helpful 22 Helpful Include your email address to get a message when this question is answered. Invest in pet health insurance before you have an emergency. There are many companies providing health insurance for pets now, so do some research and find a plan that is affordable for you.

Either way, you could save thousands of dollars and be able to get your pet the care it needs, when an emergency happens. Helpful 1 Not Helpful 0. Put together and keep an updated pet emergency kit. Very basic supplies include but are not limited to syringes for oral dosing or flushing out wounds, gauze pads to clean wounds or control bleeding, iodine solution for disinfecting wounds, tweezers, scissors, a leash, a muzzle, white surgical tape, cotton balls, and hydrogen peroxide.

Helpful 0 Not Helpful 0. Check your kids rooms for chocolate stashes that your dog could get into.