Halloween Safety- Keeping your pets safe from chocolate poisoning
Keep your Pets Safe this Halloween
While Halloween can be incredibly exciting for children, it can be potentially very dangerous for your pets with copious amount of chocolate left around. Chocolate contains a stimulant called Theobromine (similar to caffeine) that is highly poisonous to dogs. Different types of chocolate contain different amounts of Theobromine, with dark chocolate containing the most and white chocolate containing the least.
What does Theobromine do and what symptoms will I see?
Theobromine mainly affects the heart, central nervous system and kidneys. Symptoms will occur from 4-24 hours after your dog has ingested chocolate and will vary depending on the amount of chocolate (Theobromine) your dog has eaten.
If your dog has eaten chocolate, you may see the following symptoms. Usually, the more chocolate consumed the worse the symptoms and eating large amounts can prove fatal:
- Vomiting (possibly including blood)
- Diarrhoea
- Hyperactivity and restlessness
- Rapid breathing
- Muscle twitching
- Increased heart rate
- Seizures / fitting
If your dog has eaten any chocolate contact your Vet as quickly as possible and provide them with as much information as you can, about what type and how much chocolate they have ingested. Preserve wrappers and remains of the chocolate and take them with you to the surgery.
There is no antidote to Theobromine. In most cases of chocolate poisoning, your vet will initially make your dog vomit, wash out their stomach and then feed them activated charcoal to absorb any Theobromine left in the intestine.
(Please note that not all pets react the same way to poisoning and some appear to tolerate grapes, raisins and chocolate with no apparent ill- effects – there is no way to predict the effect these foods will have on your dog and so it is always best to avoid them and keep them out of reach)