Valentine’s Day is coming up and us humans celebrate with chocolates. Unfortunately, our fur-babies cannot enjoy the deliciousness of a smooth, soft, and creamy bite of chocolate. Fortunately for dogs, they have tons of other goodies they can enjoy, including toys and chocolate alternatives that are safe for them.
Chocolate is poisonous to dogs; however, the hazard of chocolate to your dog depends on the type of chocolate, the amount consumed, and your dog’s size. Chocolate, Coffee, and Caffeine contain methylxanthines. Theobromine, found is chocolate, is a type of methylxanthines that can cause vomiting and diarrhea, panting, excessive thirst and urination, hyperactivity, abnormal heart rhythm, tremors, seizures and even death. Dark and Baking Chocolate are higher in toxicity than milk and white chocolate with higher doses of theobromine. Dogs cannot metabolize theobromine as quickly as humans; therefore, it becomes toxic to them.
If your fur-baby does get into chocolate, call your veterinarian immediately. Not only is the amount of chocolate they ate important and what kind of chocolate, but also the time they ate it. The best way to deal with chocolate poisoning is prevention. Most dogs and puppies are mischievous and have a sweet tooth. Keep chocolate and anything else toxic out of the reach of dogs and cats.
