Dogs and Chocolate

The other day I ran across an article that I found quite interesting. I think it is common knowledge to most pet lovers that chocolate is potentially harmful to a dog or cat. What I found interesting was just how dangerous it really is. Chocolate contains theobromine which is toxic to dogs and cats. It only takes 45 or more milligrams of theobromine to reach a potentially lethal dose per POUND of body weight. The following chart shows the amount of various chocolate products that would need to be consumed to reach toxic levels along with the theobromine content of the products.
Theobromine                                           Lethal Dose    Lethal Dose  Lethal Dose
mg/g                                                          20 lb dog       50 lb dog    80 lb dog
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Coccoa   20.3                                               1.6 ounces      3.9 ounces     6.3 ounces
Unsweetened Baking Choc 13.0               2.5 ounces      6.2 ounces     9.9 ounces
Fudge    6.5                                                 4.9 ounces     12.3 ounces    19.7 ounces
Semi-sweet chocolate  5.6                        5.7 ounces     14.3 ounces    22.9 ounces
Milk Chocolate   1.5                                 21.4 ounces     53.4 ounces    84.3 ounces
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I found this chart to be quite helpful in times of trying to determine a lethal dose in case of ingestion by your dog for these various chocolate products. It is one thing to issue a caution but to have the actual amounts may come in very handy to the owner.

You might want to pass this information on to all your friends so that they may potentially be able to save an animals life because of having this knowledge.

Thank God that we humans don’t have the same toxic lethal levels from chocolate. I love chocolate!