A vet has taken to TikTok to share her tips on what to do if your dog has eaten chocolate.
Dr. Nicole, from Melbourne, Australia, is a veterinarian who owns Shy Tiger, a pet care business. She placed the video online where it was viewed 282,000 times.
She explained that different types of chocolates can have different effects on a dog’s health – and said certain types are much more toxic to a pet than others.
She started the video by saying, “Let’s see what to do in a chocolate emergency.”
“Everyone freaks out when their dog eats chocolate, but did you know that some types of chocolate are more toxic than others?”
Dr. Nicole, from Melbourne, Australia, took to TikTok to share her tips on what to do if your dog has eaten chocolate
So the first thing to do when your dogs eat some chocolate is find out what it is.
‘Is it white chocolate? Is it milk chocolate? Dark chocolate? Baking chocolate? Because the type of chocolate will determine how serious an emergency is.’
She continued, “If it’s white chocolate – relax. It doesn’t actually contain the theobromine, the active ingredient we’re concerned about.
“Theobromine works a bit like caffeine does for us, speeds up the heart rate, things like that.
“Dogs and cats are really bad at metabolizing this toxin, so it builds up in their system and can cause really serious toxic effects depending on how much they’ve had.”
“So we noted what type they had and then we have to find out if it’s poisonous or not.”
She continued, “To give you a rough rule of thumb, a 10-pound dog can have about 30 grams of baking chocolate, 90 grams of dark chocolate and 120 grams of milk chocolate.
So the darker the chocolate, the worse it is. We have a very good table in our instruction cards for our first aid kit.
“If you don’t have them available, just Google “Chocolate toxicity calculator for dogs” and that will give you an amount to type in.
“If you cross a threshold and your dog has had a toxic amount, the next thing to do is call your vet.
Dr. Nicole said the type of chocolate affects how big of an emergency the animal can face
Dr. Nicole said pet owners should try to find out how much chocolate their furry friend has been eating
“If it’s during business hours, call your local vet and let him know you’re on your way and how much he’s had.”
“That way they can be ready when you arrive.”
Dr. Nicole explained, “They’ll probably give your dog a drug called apomorphine either into the vein, under the skin, or put a little tablet in their eye.
As a result, your dog usually vomits within about five minutes.
“It works very quickly, getting all the chocolate out of their system and then depending on how long it’s been from when they ate the chocolate to throwing up, depending on the next step and also how much they’ve had.”
“Sometimes they put you on a special charcoal-type drug to absorb what’s left. Other times you might need a blood test, IVs, monitoring, things like that.
“But the most important thing you need to learn is that some types of chocolate are more toxic than others.
“And to try and find out how much your dog has had so you can help the vets care for your pet.”
Users took to the comments to discuss experiences they had with their pets eating chocolate.
One of them said, ‘Unfortunately, my 11 year old chocolate Labrador thought Easter came early and ate 1.5kg of milk chocolate bunnies. She’s lucky to be alive and thriving.’
Users took to the comments to discuss experiences they had with their pets eating chocolate (pictured)
Another asked about vegan chocolate and said, “What about vegan chocolate based products – soy letchin?”
“That’s most likely what my dog would accidentally eat in our house.”
Dr. Nicole replied, saying, “I would still have theobromine.”
A third wrote, “My dog eats chocolate once a week and she’s fine.”
A fourth commented, “I needed this last December when our pup ate chocolates. I’ve never been so panicked!’