Chocolate Poisoning in Dogs and the Effects

That includes mince pies, Christmas cake, Christmas pudding and ALL things chocolate! i.e cake, puddings, selection boxes, shakes and chocolates in any shape or wrapper even wrapped as Santa!

Here at Nurturing by Nature we have treats galore including stockings and doggy Christmas treat boxes that are ideal doggy Christmas presents.

We just want to remind all dog owners to keep all your chocolate based goodies out of harm’s way, including to remember the wrapped chocolate pressies under the tree!

Sue Morris - Raw Feeding Specialist - Nurturing by Nature said -

"I remember well one Christmas, all the presents were packed and placed under our tree. We were having dinner in the kitchen when we realised our 3 Westies were unusually missing and there was a strange ripping noise was coming from the lounge!

The loveable little rascals were under the tree and had sniffed out all the Chocolate Goodies and were busy tearing the paper off!! Luckily for us and them, but that’s not what they thought, we managed to rescue the edibles before any lasting damage to their health was done.

Thankfully the Chocolate was untouched, although we couldn't say the same for the packaging and a couple of the boxes".

With Christmas approaching, Nurturing by Nature would like to take the opportunity to remind all our customers of the DANGERS of CHOCOLATE POISONING.

Theobromine is the toxic agent found in chocolate and cocoa powder and Chocolate is derived from the roasted seeds of the Theobroma cacao plant.

Cocoa solids account approximately 30-70% of most chocolate although the concentration of theobromine varies with the different types of chocolate.

The least concentrated is: 

White chocolate               0.01 mg/g

Drinking chocolate            1.5-2.2mg/g

Milk chocolate                   4.5-16 mg/g

Cocoa powder                    5.3-26 mg/g

In the worst cases, fatalities may occur if a dog ingests more than 100mg per 1g of bodyweight of theobromine, although all dogs are different so the amounts will vary from dog to dog.

Clinical signs usually occur within 24 hours and the duration of the effects may be as long as 72 hours.

The visible signs of chocolate poisoning in dogs include (but are not limited to):

• Vomiting


• Excessive drinking


• Restlessness


• Salivation


• Excitable and hyperactivity

In severe cases of chocolate poisoning, dogs may show signs which include (but are not limited to):

• Muscle rigidity


• Diarrhoea


• Urinary incontinence


• Hypothermia and convulsions

All types of chocolate foods stuffs e.g. cakes, biscuits, muffins, chocolate milkshakes and Easter eggs should be kept out of reach of your dog.

If your dog does manage to consume any food with a chocolate content, always ring your vet for advice as soon as possible, as speed is of the essence. Just a few minutes may be the difference between saving a life or not.

Keep your beloved four legged companion healthy and safe, and have a wonderful time this Christmas.

If you have any questions about any of the above then please feel free to get in touch with here at Nurturing by Nature and we'll do our very best to help.

If you would like to see our range of Christmas products use the shop menu to search for all of the Christmas related products.