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I just watched a story about the Ivory coast farmers who are the largest exporters of cocoa beans in the world, and yet they had no idea what the cocoa beans are used for. They somehow decided that their beans are being used to make wine. This falsehood spread throughout the village and from generation to generation. The farmers harvest the beans and yet they have never tasted chocolate, or even knew about it. When a man came over from the city and gave them all a piece of chocolate, their eyes lit up and they were amazed as well as happy that their hard work creates something so delicious. This story brought to mind two separate things: Firstly, if awareness of an object or a fact is not complete, the mind fills in the blanks even though many times the part that is filled in is completely wrong. Secondly, I started thinking about chocolate and dogs, and how people eat almost any amount of it and have no adverse effects (except to the waistline), yet a dog could get poisoned with an ounce of the same product. It’s sad to see my dog duke watching me with those big, brown eyes when he sees me eating chocolate and it’s obvious that he wants a small piece for himself.
As much as we humanize our dogs and feel them to be part of our family, we have to remember that dogs are not humans and they have different capacities for various things. A chemical called theobromine found in cocoa which has very similar properties as caffeine is what causes chocolate to be poisonous to dogs. Humans have a larger tolerance for theobromine than dogs do. The darker and more bitter the chocolate is, the more theobromine it most likely contains. That being said, even as little as 15 ounces of “dilute” milk chocolate can cause severe problems or even be fatal to a 15 or 20 pound dog. I do not want to weigh chocolate on a scale and take that kind of chance with my dog, so the answer to duke is always, “No, I’m sorry you can’t have any of this.”
Theobromine is a methylxanthine. Derivatives of methylxanthine, such as theophylline, have been used for the treatment of asthma and for increasing alertness for a long time now. These medications also have a considerable amount of side effects. In high doses, there is an increase in heart rate, tremors, nausea, gastrointestinal disturbance, and convulsions. For dogs, the dose that produces these side effects is a lot lower than the dose used by humans. These methylxanthines are found in coffee, guarana, Kola, tea, and chocolate. Dogs metabolize methylxanthines much, much more slowly than humans do which results in accumulation. drug accumulation is a sure way to push the therapeutic level into the toxicity level.
We keep hearing and reading about dogs and chocolate and how dangerous a combination that is, so cat lovers might be feeling a little left out. Theobromine is actually more toxic in cats than in dogs, but since cats don’t usually have the ability to taste “sweet,” it is not too common to hear of a cat ingesting even a small amount of chocolate on their own. A few months ago, however, I came across a cat that seemed to love sweets for some odd reason. It’s better to be extra-careful than having to deal with an extremely ill pet that requires emergency treatment.
The best way to know if your pet is in danger after you discover that he’s ingested some chocolate is to call your veterinarian. It’s better for the veterinarian to decide to induce vomiting or take other precautions with your dog than the alternative. As usual, if you have any medication-related questions, please feel free to call your 1800PetMeds pharmacist who will be happy to answer those for you.