Dog ate dark chocolate.

Dr. Marie replied:

Hi William! I'm so sorry I wasn't online when you asked your question. I hope Manchi is ok!

You are right to be concerned about dark chocolate ingestion in a dog. The theobromine in the chocolate combined with the caffeine can have effects on a dog's heart that can be fatal.

I did some calculations though and whether or not Manchi will be ok depends on her weight. If she is less than 10 lbs and ate 30g of dark chocolate she can possibly have some serious cardiac effects. If she is greater than 10 lbs she will most likely just have some diarrhea and possibly vomiting.

At this point it is too late to consider inducing vomiting. Here are some symptoms to look for. Dogs with chocolate toxicity get tremors, possibly seizures and an irregular heartbeat.

You should be able to feel her heartbeat behind her left armpit. Count how many beats there are in a minute. For a small dog, if there are more than 160 beats per minute then this means that she may be suffering some effects from the chocolate. Or, if you find that the heartbeat is very irregular then this could be a bad sign.

If you are seeing a fast heart rate, tremors, extreme hyperactivity or seizures then she should see an emergency vet right away.

I hope she is ok!

Dr. Marie.

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