One of the most exciting things about Easter is the extra chocolate in our homes, but more of that tasty treat for us can be bad news for our dogs.
Vet practices experience an increase in chocolate toxicity in canines at this time of year mostly due to dogs accidentally getting into chocolate stashes.
And that can be expensive, with PetSure data revealing insurance claims for vet treatments for chocolate toxicity in 2024 cost an average of $535 – thousands less than the highest amount claimed of $7,041.
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PetSure chief veterinary officer Dr Simone Maher tells 9honey chocolate is toxic to dogs because it contains compounds called methylxanthines, which in this case are theobromine and caffeine.
“The first thing you might notice is vomiting or agitation, restlessness, maybe drinking a lot of water and then from there it progresses depending on how much they've eaten, to more serious clinical signs or, or more serious symptoms such as, tremoring, seizuring, racing heart and abnormal heartbeat,” she says.
“In the worst case scenarios left untreated, it can actually lead to death. If they have eaten enough chocolate, particularly dark chocolate, it can be a really significant health risk.”
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If you suspect your dog has eaten chocolate, Dr Maher urges owners to contact their vet.
“It's helpful if you're calling them to have a bit of an idea of how much and what type of chocolate your dog has eaten if that information is available to you. Usually the chocolate will have on the back somewhere, it will say the percentage of cocoa solids, or even a quick picture of the ingredients, if it was a mud cake, for example,” she says.
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Even though it's a long weekend, you still must call a vet and it's likely your regular vet will have a recorded message with details on where else to contact if they're not open on public holidays.
“The other option too is telehealth, veterinary telehealth can be really useful over public holidays and those sorts of periods outside of normal clinic hours and if you're, if you're traveling and [if you have pet insurance] you can head to a gap-only website, and that will list your nearest gap-only vet,” Dr Maher says.
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Treatment for dogs that have eaten chocolate depends on how much they've eaten and how long ago it was.
“If it's been eaten only a short time before, inducing vomiting can be really effective. So if we can get it out of their stomach before they absorb the toxic agents [in chocolate] that can be a super effective way of treating it,” Dr Maher explains.
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“If it has been some time, or particularly if they've eaten quite a lot and are showing some of those more serious clinical signs – the racing heart rate or the tremoring and the seizuring and that sort of thing they're going to need more intensive therapy.
“[That means] medications to moderate the heart rate to control any seizures, fluid therapy, and that sort of thing, as well as potentially, decontamination of the gastrointestinal system. So it can be a wide range, but if your dog happens to get into chocolate early intervention is key.”
To prevent your pooch getting stuck into your chocolate, Dr Maher recommends keeping your Easter eggs and bunnies well out of reach of your pet.
“Just remember that when something smells as delicious as chocolate does, dogs can do surprising things to get to that,” she warns, adding that the foil won't even deter them from indulging.
“So to me out of reach is actually inside a closed cupboard, put away in the pantry or something like that, because we certainly see cases where people think, ‘Oh, it's up on the table, it's OK' and the dogs have managed to leap up onto the table because they just couldn't resist it or climbed on things to actually get up there.”
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While chocolate in general should be a no-go zone for dogs, Dr Maher says it's important to remember the darker the chocolate, the smaller the dog and the more they eat the higher the risk of chocolate toxicity.
That doesn't mean white chocolate is OK though, dog owners should avoid giving that to their dogs too.
“White chocolate, even though it's got much less doses of those toxic compounds it's still not an appropriate treat for dogs and it can still give them tummy upsets,” Dr Maher explains.
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