You, your dog, and chocolate. Therapy?

[Kansaseq]

I get to work tomorrow/today, and many of our patients will be seen for chocolate ingestion/toxicity. Your dog is not alone! However, aside from myself, I've not heard of anyone who has to put the stuff up so high. I don't trust my dogs one bit, and put all meds/chocolate, et on the highest shelf near the ceiling. A good friend of mine has 3 beagles, and literally has to keep a lock on her fridge to keep them out. They are naughty!

 

[ccoomber]

Quote:
Our Miniature Pinscher would literally eat until she couldn't walk if she got the opportunity! So we always had to hide food from her. Luckily she was a small dog so that wasn't too hard!

My current cat on the other hand is a thief, anything vaguely edible will be stolen by him, so nothing can be left out in the kitchen! I think it comes from being an abandoned kitty and then being hand raised.

 

[KlaHaYa Gardens]

@kansaseq I'm glad to know my dog is not alone. (Was that directed to me and the high shelf for chocolate? Or was that directed to the chocolate poisoned dog who will be joined by others tomorrow?) Doesn't matter.

I have to say, for the times I've come home to find a pound of dark chocolate liberated from the cupboard and eaten (he's fabulous at unwrapping, too, btw -- nothing ie ever ripped or torn) anyway, the dog has never gotten sick. I suppose I should be grateful. (But part of me isn't: he at my chocolate! It's usually expensive!)

I thought it priceless when my DD said "The dog knows there's chocolate in the house. He smelled it when I brought it in."



I don't want a long lecture or informational thread on chocolate poisoning (though a long thread on therapy groups for chocolate addicted dogs, would be fine) but what is it in the chocolate that is bad for the dog? The cocoa? Sugar? Caffeine?

 

[Sonoran Silkies]

Quote:
You dislike chocolate? Your siggy says you are working on it. I doubt the birds will cooperate if they hear about this.

They can eat all the chocolate they want? Especially in cookies (*gag*) I like the colour...not the taste

 

[Kansaseq]

Quote:
Yes and yes

I don't want a long lecture or informational thread on chocolate poisoning (though a long thread on therapy groups for chocolate addicted dogs, would be fine) but what is it in the chocolate that is bad for the dog? The cocoa? Sugar? Caffeine?

Theobromine. The darker the chocolate, the more dangerous it is.​

 

[thndrdancr]

Before I knew dogs had a reaction to chocolate, I was eating a donut with choc frosting and gave my 6 month old pyrenese a small bite.

It was really hilarious as a look of such bliss came across his face it was comical. I mean it was like something out of a cartoon.

I learned right after that that its toxic to dogs, so I never give it to him but he will still go thru everything he can to get at it. Imagine a full sized pyrenese. Yep, top shelf of a cabinet is right, cuz he will counter surf, bedroom search, that dog can smell any chocolate in the house. So we have to be careful. oh and he KNOWS the word "cookie"!

That dog is a true chocoholic!

 

[Dunkopf]

Our 13 year old daughter had a box of those candy bars that schools sell to raise money. The real good ones that are a dollar each and come in about 6 flavors. She had 31 left in the box. Our Great Dane / Lab ate the whole thing. She didn't tell us about it, but her sister dropped the dime on her. That was 3 days after he ate it and he still seems to be okay. Still wouldn't feed chocolate to the dogs because of all the harmful to dogs claims out there.

 

[Stacykins]

Ahh, reminds me of a story of my former dog, Kelly. She was just a lab sized mutt of some kind.

Well, when I was living in Japan, a friend of my parents came to visit from England. Brought all sorts of chocolates and goodies. When we were all out and about, going to show her famous sights in our area, the dog got into the chocolate. It had been put on the counter, and she had NEVER been a counter surfer in her life before. I think she was about seven then. Anyway, we got home, and found she had eaten nearly all of a 5lb dark chocolate bar, leaving only one row uneaten. We assume she was too full to finish. To top it off, it was a Sunday, and the only veterinary clinic on the military base was closed on Sundays, and their voice mail said to call the base ER in case of emergencies. The ER doc just said to watch her for signs of toxicity such as muscle tremors, and that she will likely have diarrhea, and if things got serious (he knew my Mom 'cause she was a Navy nurse who worked there) to bring her into the ER. The dog did have diarrhea, but nothing worse, she just got to live outside for a warm spring day while her system purged itself.

 

[Matthew3590]

My dog is addicted to chocolate. I got tired of putting up with her crap of us getting chocolate boxes and her eating all of the chocolate out of it. So I said if you want it eat not my fault if you die dog. Turns out she ate to much got horribly ill, vomited a little, had the runs, and then got better. She doesn't like chocolate anymore.

Now that same dog with flamin hot cheetos, That is my dogs comfort food..

 

[bossynbella]

My first dog was a chocolate loving dog. I got him when I was six, right before Easter. I didn't know that chocolate was bad for dogs, I shared my chocolate Easter bunny with him, he loved it and never had a bad reaction. Throughout the years I had him, he ate chocolate with me often, and always got all the tootsie rolls at Halloween because I didn't' like them. He never reacted badly to chocolate but knowing they can our dogs never get it now. Thinking of it, he developed seizures at age 6 and after two years on phenobarbital had to be put to sleep when he wouldn't come out of a seizure, I wonder if it had something to do with all the chocolate he ate as a young dog?
I miss my Buster brown, what a good little dog he was.