With Easter almost on us people are being warned not to give chocolate or hot cross buns to their dogs.
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GV Vets veterinarian Brett Davis said chocolate was potentially fatal for dogs if they ate a large amount of it.
Dr Davis said both the fat content and theobromine — a compound in chocolate — were problematic for dogs.
If allowed to build up to toxic levels, theobromine can affect a dog’s heart — making it beat irregularly.
Severe symptoms of this toxicity include seizures, while moderate symptoms are tremors and heart irregularity.
Mild symptoms include vomiting, diarrhoea and hyper-excitability.
Dr Davis said dark chocolate contained more theobromine than milk or white chocolate.
The good news is most dogs would probably need to eat a lot of chocolate to become severely sick from the toxicity.
A small dog would need to eat 30 to 50 g of milk chocolate — the equivalent of three to six miniature Easter eggs — to become mildly sick, but about 16 eggs to become severely sick.
A medium size dog — weighing 10 to 15 kg — would need to eat 16 miniature milk chocolate eggs to become mildly sick or 50 eggs to become severely sick.
For a large dog, 300 g of milk chocolate (32 miniature eggs) would need to be eaten to become mildly sick, or 100 eggs to become severely sick.
However, for dark chocolate, the numbers are much lower.
For small dogs to become mildly sick they would need to eat two miniature eggs; for medium size dogs that number is 6 or 7 miniature eggs; and for large dogs, about 13 eggs are needed.
Dr Davis said the problem was most people did not know how many chocolate eggs their dog had eaten.
However, Dr Davis said dogs could suffer from pancreatitis if they ate too much fat, such as that contained in chocolate.
Signs of pancreatitis include tummy pain, vomiting, lethargy and a generally unwell dog.
And severe pancreatitis can cause death.
“If it’s one or two eggs, don’t panic,” Dr Davis said.
However, if people are concerned about their dog eating a large amount of chocolate, they should call their vet.
“Most commonly, if a dog has eaten chocolate, we get them in, make them vomit and there’s no problem,” Dr Davis said.
The best thing to do is to keep chocolate away from pets, he said.
“On Easter night, when the Easter Bunny comes, lock up your dog so the bunny doesn’t get a fright and don’t let them out until all the eggs are found,” Dr Davis said.
He also reminded people not to feed their dogs hot cross buns, as raisins can be toxic to some dogs.
“Some dogs are particularly sensitive to grapes, sultanas and raisin toxicity,” Dr Davis said.
How much chocolate is toxic for your dog?
Small dogs
A small dog would need to eat 30 to 50 g of milk chocolate — the equivalent of three to six miniature Easter eggs — to become mildly sick; 100 g or 11 miniature eggs to become moderately sick; or 150 g or 16 eggs to become severely sick.
For dark chocolate, these numbers are much lower: 20 g (two miniature eggs) is all it takes to become mildly sick; 40 g (four to five eggs) to become moderately sick; and 60 g (six to seven eggs) to become severely sick.
Medium dogs
A medium size dog — weighing 10 to 15 kg — would need to eat 150 g of milk chocolate (16 miniature eggs) to become mildly sick; 300 g (32 eggs) to become moderately sick; and 450 g (50 eggs) to become severely sick.
With dark chocolate, 60 g (six to seven miniature eggs) is needed to become mildly sick; 120 g (13 eggs) to become mildly sick; and 180 g (20 eggs) to become severely sick.
Large dogs
For a large dog, weighing more than 30 kg, 300 g of milk chocolate (32 miniature eggs) would need to be eaten to become mildly sick; 600 g (64 eggs) to become moderately sick; and 900 g (100 eggs) to become severely sick.
The amount of dark chocolate needed to be eaten is 120 g (13 eggs) to become mildly sick; 230 g (25 eggs) to become moderately sick; and 360 g (40 eggs) to become severely sick.