Dogs can be poisoned if they eat chocolate

In the United States, chocolate is one of the five most common poisonings in dogs, along with car antifreeze, marijuana, rat poison, and pesticides.
Chocolate contains theobromine. Theobromine can excite the central nervous system, relax muscles, and increase heart rate. Theobromine also has two famous brothers that belong to the methylxanthine family: caffeine and theophylline. These substances are toxic to most animals, but this trick does not work on primates like humans. We have a high metabolic rate for such substances, which means that these toxins in the body will be quickly excreted through liver detoxification and kidney excretion. Unfortunately, dogs are not primates and cannot effectively eliminate methylxanthines from their bodies. It takes about 20 hours to flush out half of the methylxanthines taken into the body.

Symptoms of dogs eating chocolate

For a Pomeranian weighing 3 kg, eating 3-4 grams of dark chocolate at one time may cause poisoning. This is just a small bite; If you eat 10 grams of dark chocolate, you may suffer from severe vomiting and cramps; if you eat 60 grams of dark chocolate at one time, it may kill you due to tachycardia and muscle stiffness. This is just the weight of a plate of chocolate.

Measures for dogs eating chocolate

If your dog accidentally eats a little chocolate, there is usually no big problem. The amount of theobromine contained in chocolate Not enough to cause illness. It is a very effective method to induce vomiting within 2 hours of the dog eating chocolate. But if the dog secretly eats a box or more of chocolates, the owner should immediately take the dog to the hospital for gastric lavage treatment. In serious cases, the dog may die.