Easter
Warning
Did you know that human chocolate is poisonous to dogs?
Hopefully you have already seen our list
of common human foods that can cause illness or sometimes even death
in our four-legged friends.
At Easter time many of us will have at least one large tempting
chocolate Easter Egg lying around the house just waiting to be eaten
up. If your pet gets hold of your egg and devours it when you are
not around then beware – chocolate is poisonous to dogs.
Theobromine, or chocolate, poisoning is actually one of the most
commonly encountered poisonings in pet dogs.
Theobromine is found in chocolate, cocoa, cola and tea. A fatal
dose of theobromine in a 10kg dog would be approx 65g of baking
chocolate. Smaller amounts may not kill but can still cause serious
poisoning.
To
give an idea of theobromine content, milk chocolate has about 50
mg per ounce and baking chocolate has about 430 mg of theobromine
per ounce.
The
first signs of chocolate poisoning are vomiting, diarrhoea and nausea
followed by heart problems and seizures. If you think your dog may
have chocolate poisoning the first thing you should do is get your
dog to a vet straight away so that they can induce vomiting. If
more than a couple of hours have passed, other treatment may be
required.
Dogs
do have a sweet tooth so it is your responsibility to keep all chocolate
and cocoa products safely stored away so your pet cannot reach them.
What
if your dog eats a small amount of chocolate or you are tempted
to feed your pet just a small piece of your chocolate? It may not
have any obvious serious health effects but once your dog has a
taste for chocolate they will definitely like it and may seek out
more. So why show them what they are missing? For their own health,
it is probably best not to let your pet ever taste even a small
amount of what they must not eat. |
