So I left the room for a minute and when I came back Tasha had her face in a bag of Pepperidge Farm Sausalitos.

(What can I say, she takes after her mama!)

Anyway, I think she only ate one or two, so I'm pretty sure she's not going to die from it. But I was wondering if there is anything I should watch out for tonight.

Thanks

I think to make her sick, she would have to eat A LOT. She does weigh 70 lbs, right? I bet she'd have to eat more than a few cookies to get a toxic dose (since it is not pure chocolate...) She could get diarrhea if she got too much. Now, if she were a little thing and it was a big chunk of dark chocolate....

Our dogs have gotten way more than one cookie and didn't have any problems at all. Here's the guideline my vet showed me:

Chocolate has something in it called theobromine. Theobromine is toxic to dogs. So yes, ingredients in chocolate can be harmful to dogs. But before you go rushing off to the veterinarian because Fido ate a Hershey's Kiss, here's what you should know...

It takes a fairly large amount of theobromine to be toxic to your dog. Of course, the amount will vary based on the type of chocolate, the size of your dog, and your dog's sensitivity to theobromine.

On average,

Milk chocolate contains 44 mg of theobromine per oz.

Semisweet chocolate contains 150 mg/oz.

Baker's chocolate contains 390 mg/oz.

Generally speaking, it takes approximately 100mg to 150mg of theobromine per kg of dog weight to impact your dog negatively.

Using a dose of 100 mg/kg as the toxic dose it comes out roughly as:

Milk Chocolate can be toxic if your dog eats 1 ounce per 1 pound of body weight.

Semisweet chocolate can be toxic if your dog 1 ounce per 3 pounds of body weight.

Bakers chocolate can be toxic if your dog eats 1 ounce per 9 pounds of body weight.

Based on that, 3 oz. of Bakers chocolate can be harmful to a 25 lb. dog, while 3 oz of of milk chocolate could just give him diarrhea.

Thank you for responding so quickly!

I feel better now. I have known dogs that have eaten fairly large amounts of chocolate and been fine, but I just wanted to check.

Looks like Tasha is flipping you the bird over this chicken battle.:laugh:

Yeah, she totally is!

She's still just not into chicken. I'm giving her until this Sunday, then I might have to formulate plan b. I still want to feed her raw, but I might need to go partially kibble or prepared raw to make sure she's getting enough variety.

I can't blame her. I'd rather eat cookies than chicken any day!

 Quote: lori hall

On average,

Milk chocolate contains 44 mg of theobromine per oz.

Semisweet chocolate contains 150 mg/oz.

Baker's chocolate contains 390 mg/oz.

Generally speaking, it takes approximately 100mg to 150mg of theobromine per kg of dog weight to impact your dog negatively.

Using a dose of 100 mg/kg as the toxic dose it comes out roughly as:

Milk Chocolate can be toxic if your dog eats 1 ounce per 1 pound of body weight.

Semisweet chocolate can be toxic if your dog 1 ounce per 3 pounds of body weight.

Bakers chocolate can be toxic if your dog eats 1 ounce per 9 pounds of body weight.

Lori, thank you so much for posting this in detail! I've always understood the chocolate caution based on the rough relationship of chocolate type vs size of dog, but I'd never gotten an actual breakdown with #s - this is much more in depth, and very useful.

I've known many (large breed) dogs who ate whole bags of Hershey's kisses, or milk choc chips, without getting much more than temporary digestive issues, but I also have a friend who's shepherd mix got into a box of powdered baking chocolate and nearly suffered heart failure... nothing to mess around with if you happen to be dealing with the "hard stuff"...

Lauren, I hope Tasha suffers no ill effects from her cookie mini-binge!

~Natalya

Last Halloween my Lilly (34 lbs) swiped a whole bag of choc covered milk duds wrapped individually in the little boxes. She unwrapped all of the candy disgarded the boxes and ate it.

I called the animal poison hot line at 50 dollars a call...they said it was a function of weight, amount of choc and toxidity of the choc, and milk choc is not nearly as toxic as the Bakers. She had some loose stool and that was it...dang dawgs!