I'm hoping this will catch the eye of some of the hatrackers who know dog health.
One or both of my dogs ate a substantial amount of dark chocolate. I'm trying to induce vomiting using small doses of a 3% solution of hydrogen peroxide (as recommended on a first aid site for dogs). Neither dog is puking yet (they're both acting normal). How long should I continue this, and is there anything else I can do?
Please, if you have any advice, help...I'm freaking out a bit.
Posted by breyerchic04 (Member # 6423) on :
Megan, who's your vet? Also, about how much chocolate was it, and how big are the dogs, so far you're doing everything I've ever heard to do, I ran it past my mom who was a vet assistant for 8 years, and those were her only questions.
Posted by Megan (Member # 5290) on :
We go to the Bloomington Vet Hospital, but we don't have a regular one there. I don't know which dog got more chocolate, so we're trying to induce vomiting in both. The small one is 35ish pounds; the big one is 85ish pounds.
It was about the size of a normal chocolate bar, but it was dark chocolate.
Posted by Megan (Member # 5290) on :
Update and bump...
The little dog vomited--no chocolate, which means the larger dog must've gotten most of it.
breyerchic ( ) helped me figure out that it would take a lot more than the 2ish oz. of dark chocolate that was there to be fatal, so I'll just keep an eye on both of them tomorrow, and hopefully everything will be fine.
Posted by Valentine014 (Member # 5981) on :
Here in Omaha, we have an emergency vet clinic, which will take calls 24/7. Chocolate is a big no-no for dogs, as we discovered when my 5 lb. chihuahua ate a bag of Hershey's kisses.
Thankfully, the hydrogen peroxide did the trick.
What a lovely mess to clean up.
Posted by Megan (Member # 5290) on :
Val, yeah, I know, I was totally cheering her on as she was puking.
But, I don't think she got much, if any, of the chocolate. The larger dog is close to 90 lbs, so I don't think 2 oz. of dark chocolate will affect him too badly...but we'll keep our eyes on him.
Posted by Valentine014 (Member # 5981) on :
2 oz.? Yeah, your dog will take it just fine.
Glad the puking is going well. Posted by Megan (Member # 5290) on :
Yeah, I think he'll be ok. Considering all the crap these two have eaten, it's a small miracle they're both not dead.
*sigh*
Posted by Avadaru (Member # 3026) on :
My dogs love chocolate. If they smell it, they will destroy everything in their path until they find it. So far, they have not been harmed. Posted by quidscribis (Member # 5124) on :
What a . . . gross topic. Thanks for that! Posted by Bob_Scopatz (Member # 1227) on :
What is it IN chocolate that's poisonous for dogs? Does it have major cardiac effects or something?
Posted by accio (Member # 3040) on :
Megan, I hope your dogs came through fine this morning!! ((hugs))
Bob: Chocolate (caffeine) contains theobromine, or theophylline, which can be toxic and affect the heart and nervous systems.
So I guess giving the dog coffee is also a no-no, huh?
The crazy thing about chocolate is how much dogs love it. Our dog has (to the best of my knowledge) never tasted it in her life, but she can hear the crinkle of a chocolate wrapper from out the back yard.
Posted by imogen (Member # 5485) on :
Huh - that site is really interesting, accio.
I knew about chocolate and macadamia nuts (and really, who would give their dogs dope?!) but I didn't know about a few others. Our dog has had both mushrooms and onions - but only in *tiny* quantities (pasta sauce scrapings over her biscuits).
I wonder about raw eggs though - I quite commonly give Chelsea an egg, because a dog breeder we got my sister's dog from said it was a good idea. She said it *helps* their coat...
?
AJ - any thoughts on that.
(She lives on a farm and all the eggs were from the farms' chickens - very, very free range and organic. I wonder if that makes a difference?)
Posted by mackillian (Member # 586) on :
My sister has a 9-lb rat terrier. My sister and her boyfriend came home one day to find Jasmine standing over the crinkled up foil remains of one of those 5lb Hershey's Kisses.
That's right. She'd eaten more than half her weight in chocolate. The dog was all bloaty. (So says my sister). They trundled the distended dog into my sister's truck and had her boyfriend's sister hold the dog as my sister sped to the vet's (they'd called before hand, and the vet said to induce vomiting).
Dog wouldn't throw up. Sister getting panicky. They're almost to the vet's. Dog still hasn't puked.
They finally pull into a parking spot, whereupon the dog pukes everything up on the boyfriend's sister.
The dog is fine. She's actually quite an entertaining dog. I don't even LIKE little dogs, but this one doesn't act like a typical one.
My sister and her boyfriend now lock up all the chocolate.
Posted by Megan (Member # 5290) on :
quote:Originally posted by accio: Megan, I hope your dogs came through fine this morning!! ((hugs))
((hugs)) Yes, thank you I'm starting to believe the big one's insides are made of teflon; he eats all manner of crap, not only stuff he shouldn't eat, but stuff NOBODY should eat (like paper and plastic wrappers, and not just food wrappers, either). As for the little one, she actually enjoyed the hydrogen peroxide (we didn't have pour the second dose down her throat...she just drank it like it was a treat!).
My dogs are so weird.
Posted by BannaOj (Member # 3206) on :
OH my I'm sorry I didn't read this last night. Glad everyone came through ok.
I've never heard of using hydrogen peroxide to induce vomiting before. I'm guessing the 3% stuff is dilute enough it doesn't do a lot of damage. However I think there may be other safer vomit inducing compounds on the market.
Chocolate like grapes is kind of like food allergies in humans. There are enough dogs that do find theobromine (and whatever is in grapes) toxic or react badly, that it is a good rule of thumb not to give it to them. However some can down lots and not even be phased. Normally the larger the dog the better since there are more cells to metabolize things. But every now and then you'll get a large dog with an acute reaction or a small dog with high tolerance. It's generally easier on younger dogs than old dogs as well. (Morbidly thinking of the little old lady who gave dear aged spoiled rotten Foo-Foo one too many chocolate bon-bons and has the dog drop dead on her.)
I'd call still call the vet clinic, tell them what happened and see if they have any reccomendations via the phone. Doesn't sound like it's worth taking them in if they came through ok. Of course the other way to clear it from their systems faster in addition to the vomiting is to give them something that gives them diarhea... which may or may not be a good idea. Either way make sure there is plenty of fresh water available for them today.
AJ
Posted by beatnix19 (Member # 5836) on :
Speaking of dogs and dope. When I was younger my grandparents had a Scotish terrior that was meaner than spit. He was paniky and skitish and would snap at anything tha got too near. When I was older my dad told me why. Apparently when the dog was only about a year old my uncle had been cutting up an ounce of weed in the living room when my grandmothers car pulled into the drive. My uncle stuffed the tv tray he was using under the couch and waited untill my grandmother had gone into the back room. He went back to get it and only found bits of tore up baggie. the dog went absolutely insane. It was walking in circles and hitting the wall. Snapping at the air and having a hard time breathing. My grandma freaked out and my uncle had to fess up. the dog survived but was nuts the rest of his life. A sad story but one tha really cleared things up about that stupid dogs temperment. I always hated the little jerk.
Posted by Yozhik (Member # 89) on :
Megan, is your larger dog a Labrador Retriever, by any chance?
Posted by Farmgirl (Member # 5567) on :
We just had a discussion about this subject with a group of people over the weekend. Almost each shared that at some point their dog had gotten into chocolate left out and eaten large quantities. But all of them said there was never any side effects -- the dog seemed fine, no trips to vet, etc. Did no damage. They were wondering why it is always said dogs shouldn't eat chocolate -- because their dogs did but had no reaction at all...
FG
Posted by Megan (Member # 5290) on :
Yeah, on my list of things to do today is to get syrup of ipecac, which I know induces vomiting in humans, too. I was just googling like crazy, and the VAST majority of the websites suggested hydrogen peroxide, with a handful of ipecac mentions and two or three of salt on the back of the tongue. In fact, when I called the vet, they suggested hydrogen peroxide, as well (and in much larger doses than I'd been using!) They also said that since the dog was so large and the amount of chocolate relatively small, that everything really should be fine.
Anyway, both mutts are behaving normally, so I'm thinking they'll be alright. Fortunately, Jim will be home today, so he can keep an eye on both of them and make sure.
I'm just glad everything is ok. Last night, between the panic and the guilt (it was my chocolate, and I left it in reach ), I was not a happy camper. But, since they're back to normal, I'm alright now.
Posted by Theca (Member # 1629) on :
I believe CT made reference once to a dog she knew that died from eating chocolate while its owners were at work. That post was a loooong time ago so I don't think it would be possible to find it.
Posted by Megan (Member # 5290) on :
Nope, the larger one is a Great Pyrenees mix; the smaller one is what we call a borgle (border collie/beagle). Pictures of them.
My parents have a lab mix, though, who ate half the linoleum off their kitchen floor when she was a pup.
Posted by BannaOj (Member # 3206) on :
ahh so even the smaller one isn't *that* small. It's the dogs in the 15lbs and under range that it can often do the most damage in just because they can't metabolize it as well.
If your vet recommended hydrogen peroxide by all means use it, it just wasn't something I'd heard of.
AJ
Posted by Stray (Member # 4056) on :
My girlfriend's dog once stole a piece of chocolate cheesecake off the coffee table, and they used hydrogen peroxide to make her throw it up. She's only 12 lbs, so when they gave it to her they just put her in the bathtub and wouldn't let her out until after she hurled. All three of them worked at a pet store and have some vet-tech-like experience, and apparently it takes 6 ccs of H2O2 to make an American Bulldog throw up. This tiny little Jack Russell Terrier had to have 12 ccs before she'd give it up. I can totally imagine her pacing around and around in the tub, stomach bloating bigger and bigger, thinking "not gonna throw up, not gonna throw up, that was too tasty to lose, not gonna throw up..." Posted by BannaOj (Member # 3206) on :
Those terriers are stubborn little cusses. AJ
Posted by mackillian (Member # 586) on :
Yes they ARE.
Posted by TMedina (Member # 6649) on :
Megan - glad to hear the puppies are doing well.
I love rat terriers.
Don't care for small dogs, but I love a good rat terrier.
-Trevor
Edited for an embarassing typo.
[ May 25, 2005, 12:38 PM: Message edited by: TMedina ]
Posted by breyerchic04 (Member # 6423) on :
I'm glad we found that chart to keep you sane last night! I heard about using peroxide about a month ago, but that was from a tech who used to work at BVH, I think the clinic we go to suggests ipecac.
Posted by BannaOj (Member # 3206) on :
The egg stuff. Many of the bacteria that affect us, don't affect dogs in the same way. In other words, I've never heard of salmonella in dogs. However you can get UV irradiated eggs before you feed them to dogs, they are technically safe for human consumption raw too I believe. I think some of the BARF people do this. But overall as long as you make sure it stays in the "dog" area and doesn't get on your own food prep surfaces I wouldn't worry too much.
It does help their coats because of the proteins in the eggs. I prefer giving my dogs flaxseed oil in liquid or pill form, which contains vitamin E and helps their coat, but doesn't cause them to smell fishy like castor oil liquid or pills do (oh man that castor oil dog gas will knock you flat)
AJ
Posted by Eaquae Legit (Member # 3063) on :
A co-worker was telling me the other day about a time they went on a day outing, leaving their dog in the house. Somehow it managed to find and eat three cans of coffee. How it survived, I do not know.
Posted by accio (Member # 3040) on :
![[Kiss]](graemlins/kiss.gif)
) helped me figure out that it would take a lot more than the 2ish oz. of dark chocolate that was there to be fatal, so I'll just keep an eye on both of them tomorrow, and hopefully everything will be fine.
![[Smile]](smile.gif)
![[Big Grin]](biggrin.gif)
![[Frown]](frown.gif)
), I was not a happy camper. But, since they're back to normal, I'm alright now.
![[Laugh]](graemlins/laugh.gif)