Are you killing your dog with kindness?
Do not succumb to the whiles of your pet for chocolate (even though every canine drools dreadfully for it!) A large enough amount of chocolate can prove lethal to dogs and cats– for whom it is a toxic substance. This is because even the yummiest chocolates consist of the chemical stimulant- theobromine- that dogs and perhaps cats, are unable to metabolize.
As a result, your pet can have traces of theobromine in his/her blood as much as twenty hours after greedily gobbling up some chocolate. This will increase your canine’s heart rate and be accompanied by-
- Internal bleeding
- Chronic diarrhea
- Hallucinations
- Seizures
- A heart attack
- Eventual death. *
* (Just thirty grams of baking chocolate per kilogram (1/2 ounce per pound) of body weight is sufficient to poison a dog. If your dog is small and has just wolfed down a sizable chocolate, contact your vet pronto. Vomiting can and should be induced up to two hours after your dog has eaten the harmful substance.
You need not panic over much if your dog is larger in size, and has eaten a large amount of chocolate- (even though even a large dog can also find it difficult to digest chocolate.)