I decided to create this website to alert others to the dangers of chocolate to our four legged friends, more specifically, the theobromine found in chocolate.
Last year I nearly lost one of my beloved dogs to chocolate poisoning. Milo is a parson russell terrier, living here with my other three dogs, Tilly a rescued lurcher, Ellie another prt and Flora a hungarian vizsla.
I arrived home one evening to discover Tilly had managed to open the fridge, amongst other items and wrappers strewn across the floor were some wrappers that made my heart sink. Wrappers to 2 bars of 80% cocoa solid cooking chocolate that had been residing in the fridge. I rang my vet immediately and not knowing who had eaten the chocolate bundled all four dogs into the car in a mad dash to get them immediate treatment, making note on my way out the door as to the likely amount of chocolate consumed and the level of cocoa solids in the chocolate.
Milo had given me cause for concern as soon as I left the house, very difficult symptoms to describe but I know my dogs and I knew something wasnt right with him, something about his eyes, the way he carried himself and his general demenour made me think quite quickly that he was a likely candidate for at least part of the chocolate consumption. Arriving at the vets I left the other 3 dogs in the car and ran in with Milo expressing my concern to the vet who had arrived at the surgery before me and was on the phone to a poisoning helpline of some description, she looked pale looking at little Milo and trying to calculate an approximate weight in her head, relaying that to the person on the phone along with the details of what he had possibley eaten. Sure enough Milos heart was beating very fast, a classic sign of poisoning. The vet induced vomitting, he brought up an awful lot of chocolate and I rushed back to the car to get the other dogs in. Walking in I noticed similar 'odd' signs in Tilly, the large lurcher and again the vet agreed by her heart rate and other signs that she was likely to be another chocolate indulger, vomitting was induced in her too. Both dogs were put on drips and taken out the back to be hospitalised. Much to Flora and Ellies relief both myself and the vet were pretty sure neither of them seemed off in anyway and they missed the violent induced vomitting that they had just witnessed in the other two. I signed consent forms and travelled home with only two dogs in the car.
Last year I nearly lost one of my beloved dogs to chocolate poisoning. Milo is a parson russell terrier, living here with my other three dogs, Tilly a rescued lurcher, Ellie another prt and Flora a hungarian vizsla.
I arrived home one evening to discover Tilly had managed to open the fridge, amongst other items and wrappers strewn across the floor were some wrappers that made my heart sink. Wrappers to 2 bars of 80% cocoa solid cooking chocolate that had been residing in the fridge. I rang my vet immediately and not knowing who had eaten the chocolate bundled all four dogs into the car in a mad dash to get them immediate treatment, making note on my way out the door as to the likely amount of chocolate consumed and the level of cocoa solids in the chocolate.
Milo had given me cause for concern as soon as I left the house, very difficult symptoms to describe but I know my dogs and I knew something wasnt right with him, something about his eyes, the way he carried himself and his general demenour made me think quite quickly that he was a likely candidate for at least part of the chocolate consumption. Arriving at the vets I left the other 3 dogs in the car and ran in with Milo expressing my concern to the vet who had arrived at the surgery before me and was on the phone to a poisoning helpline of some description, she looked pale looking at little Milo and trying to calculate an approximate weight in her head, relaying that to the person on the phone along with the details of what he had possibley eaten. Sure enough Milos heart was beating very fast, a classic sign of poisoning. The vet induced vomitting, he brought up an awful lot of chocolate and I rushed back to the car to get the other dogs in. Walking in I noticed similar 'odd' signs in Tilly, the large lurcher and again the vet agreed by her heart rate and other signs that she was likely to be another chocolate indulger, vomitting was induced in her too. Both dogs were put on drips and taken out the back to be hospitalised. Much to Flora and Ellies relief both myself and the vet were pretty sure neither of them seemed off in anyway and they missed the violent induced vomitting that they had just witnessed in the other two. I signed consent forms and travelled home with only two dogs in the car.
I rung an hour later and my heart sunk to hear that Milo had started fitting shortly after I left. He was now in a drug induced coma to stop him fitting and to try and allow his little body to fight the toxins.
Tilly came home the following morning, she was poorly but causing a nuiscence. Being much larger than Milo and therefore having a greater tolerance to the amount of chocolate consumed she was able to process the toxins with only some preliminary care to keep her hydrated and her kidneys flushing through. Milo however still struggled on, in a dark, silent room, comatosed on diazepam with the vet at his side. It was calculated at some point in the ensuing days that he had consumed roughly 7 times the toxic dose for his size, a frightening figure. The odds werent looking great, neither was my bank balance! Each time Milo was woken from his deep sleep we all held our breaths hoping he would be back with us and each time he started fitting again and had to be knocked straight back out. This went on for days and days and I can tell you it felt like years, the more the time went on the more despondant we all became hoping and praying that his body in its deep sleep could keep going and keep fighting until all the toxins had gone. He had several enemas to try and clear out any last remaining bits of chocolate from his system. He was young and very fit, he deserved the chance to keep trying, so try we did until one morning days later he was woken and didnt spiral straight back into a fit. It was a miracle, he was back, very very drowsy and looking thin but back nontheless! I went to visit him a few hours later, thankful that he recognised me and his favourite teddy, certainly no lasting neurological damage seemed to have been done, the next concern was for the damage to his liver and kidneys. Thankfully and totally amazingly both liver and kidneys were perfectly serviceable when tested the next day. The bill....well we wont mention the bill for days and days of round the clock care or quite how exhausted and relieved the vet was to see him go home!
Tilly came home the following morning, she was poorly but causing a nuiscence. Being much larger than Milo and therefore having a greater tolerance to the amount of chocolate consumed she was able to process the toxins with only some preliminary care to keep her hydrated and her kidneys flushing through. Milo however still struggled on, in a dark, silent room, comatosed on diazepam with the vet at his side. It was calculated at some point in the ensuing days that he had consumed roughly 7 times the toxic dose for his size, a frightening figure. The odds werent looking great, neither was my bank balance! Each time Milo was woken from his deep sleep we all held our breaths hoping he would be back with us and each time he started fitting again and had to be knocked straight back out. This went on for days and days and I can tell you it felt like years, the more the time went on the more despondant we all became hoping and praying that his body in its deep sleep could keep going and keep fighting until all the toxins had gone. He had several enemas to try and clear out any last remaining bits of chocolate from his system. He was young and very fit, he deserved the chance to keep trying, so try we did until one morning days later he was woken and didnt spiral straight back into a fit. It was a miracle, he was back, very very drowsy and looking thin but back nontheless! I went to visit him a few hours later, thankful that he recognised me and his favourite teddy, certainly no lasting neurological damage seemed to have been done, the next concern was for the damage to his liver and kidneys. Thankfully and totally amazingly both liver and kidneys were perfectly serviceable when tested the next day. The bill....well we wont mention the bill for days and days of round the clock care or quite how exhausted and relieved the vet was to see him go home!
So Milo is home and totally fine now some months later, he had another brief stay in hospital after contracting a stomach bug that hit him very hard probably as a result of his previous ordeal.
But I write this lengthy story and the rest of this site because the one thing that shocked, amazed and saddend me whilst my little lad fought for his life those days was the lack of knowledge and understanding amongst the dog owners I had told about it. I had several responses of 'oh I thought the chocolate thing was an old wives tale' and many others that didnt understand the true seriousness of what chocolate can do. Nearly everybody asked me, 'how did you know he was ill, was he sick?' and indeed the amount of times since the incident I have heard the likes of 'chocolate cant harm them, my dog ate a whole box of milk tray once and it didnt touch him.' The main thing that goes through my head when I hear such responses is that if any of these people had Milo that day he would be dead now. I did know the dangers and acted as quickly as I could as soon as I saw the empty wrappers, I had rung the vet before I noticed anything different about the dogs at all, if I hadnt I think it very unlikely indeed that Milo would still be with me, possibley Tilly too, as it was I still nearly lost a wonderful little dog.
But I write this lengthy story and the rest of this site because the one thing that shocked, amazed and saddend me whilst my little lad fought for his life those days was the lack of knowledge and understanding amongst the dog owners I had told about it. I had several responses of 'oh I thought the chocolate thing was an old wives tale' and many others that didnt understand the true seriousness of what chocolate can do. Nearly everybody asked me, 'how did you know he was ill, was he sick?' and indeed the amount of times since the incident I have heard the likes of 'chocolate cant harm them, my dog ate a whole box of milk tray once and it didnt touch him.' The main thing that goes through my head when I hear such responses is that if any of these people had Milo that day he would be dead now. I did know the dangers and acted as quickly as I could as soon as I saw the empty wrappers, I had rung the vet before I noticed anything different about the dogs at all, if I hadnt I think it very unlikely indeed that Milo would still be with me, possibley Tilly too, as it was I still nearly lost a wonderful little dog.