How much chocolate can a 20 pound dog eat? Surprising Answer

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What Should I Do if My Dog Ate Chocolate?

If you think your dog has eaten chocolate, or they have any of these symptoms, contact the Pet Poison Helpline at 855-764-7661 or your veterinarian or emergency vet right away:

  • Vomiting
  • Diarrhea
  • Increased body temperature
  • Increased reflex responses
  • Muscle rigidity
  • Rapid breathing
  • Increased heart rate
  • Low blood pressure
  • Seizures
  • Advanced signs (cardiac failure, weakness, and coma)

    • Remember, with any poisoning, it’s always cheaper, less invasive, and has a better prognosis/outcome if you treat early. Once your dog has already developed clinical signs and is affected by the poison, it makes for a much more expensive veterinary visit!

    How to calculate chocolate toxicity in dogs?

    The first step of calculating toxicity is to know the concentration of harmful substances in a given food; our dog chocolate calculator is fully prepared for this task, but you may also use different food nutrition sites, such as PinkBird.org.

    If you already have all the data you need, proceed to the calculations.

    Theobromine dose = (Chocolate type * Amount eaten) / Weight

    Caffeine dose = (Chocolate type * Amount eaten) / Weight

    Total dose = Caffeine dose + Theobromine dose

    We used all the equations presented above to create our pet chocolate calculator.

    where:

  • Theobromine dose and Caffeine dose are given in mg/kg.
  • Chocolate type means the concentration of theobromine/caffeine in 1 g of a given chocolate product.
  • Amount eaten — Given in grams (g).
  • Weight of the pet is given in kilograms (kg).

    • To evaluate the total toxicity, we need to use the Total dose that weve already calculated:

  • A total dose of <15.01 mg/kg — Your pets going to be ok.
  • A dose between 15.01-34.02 mg/kg — Your pet may suffer from diarrhea and vomiting.
  • A dose between 34.02-45 mg/kg — Your pet may also suffer from tachyarrhythmia (possibly dangerous, rapid heartbeat).
  • A dose between 45-55.01 mg/kg — Will cause seizures and tremors.
  • A total dose larger than 55.01 mg/kg — May kill your dog.

    • How Much Chocolate Can Kill a Dog?

    While this depends on the type of chocolate, it can take only 0.3 ounces of concentrated chocolate per pound of body weight to kill a dog. Milder types of chocolates vary from 0.5 to 2 ounces. This is because chocolates contain theobromine, which is a lethal chemical for dogs.

    As a pet owner, you need to know how to protect your dog from such harm. So let’s start by understanding how a sweet treat can be fatal to dogs.

    How Much Chocolate Can Kill Your Dog?