5 ms·

> I wouldn't give my dog their chocolate You really shouldn’t give your dog any chocolate. It is considered poisonous to most dogs

newaccoutnas 8y ago
Indeed, an old dog I had managed to eat a stash of easter eggs and she was very ill, on a drip. There is dog-safe chocolate available from pet shops
- black-tea 8y ago
  Why bother, though? A dog will be just as happy eating its own vomit.
  - unfunco 8y ago
    No, it wouldn't.
    - okmokmz 8y ago
      If there is vomit nearby my parents dog will choose it over it's own food
  - newaccoutnas 8y ago
    Because carrying around dog-vomit as a dog treat isn't really socially acceptable?
SlowRobotAhead 8y ago
Mostly. It’s theobromine in chocolate. Present in most chocolate, but concentrated in baking or dark. It’s barely present at all in most medicore milk chocolates like the ones kraft makes large scale. A average chocolate bar and and average dog won’t get poison effects from theobromine, but could have a really bad reaction to that make calories and sugars. An average dog would need multiple average chocolate bars. Very much true for baking or dark chocolate though. A dark bar and a small dog can be a bad combination. Some dogs show a fair resistance to it but could still see liver damage.
- cglace 8y ago
  My jack Russell got into a pound of tootsie rolls. Found her twitching on the ground outside. Took her to the vet and she was put on an IV and she lived to 16.
  - SlowRobotAhead 8y ago
    Scary! I wonder if it was theobromine poisoning or too much sugar? I guess tootsie rolls could be related to dark chocolate.
  - logfromblammo 8y ago
    I once had a huge black Labrador Retriever (45 kg, and tall, not fat) that got up onto the kitchen countertop and ate almost an entire 32oz box of chocolate-almond bark. The only ill effect he apparently suffered from it was getting yelled at. Some of the other grossly inappropriate things he had ever eaten include a 60W incandescent light bulb, two toilet cleaner tank pucks, and the blue dog vomit caused by eating toilet cleaner pucks. This was not an animal with discerning tastes. Nevertheless, sweet milk chocolate doesn't have a lot of theobromine in it, and he was rather large for a lab. Didn't live to 16, but larger breeds usually don't.
    - antod 8y ago
      I grew up with a Golden Lab, your story doesn't surprise me :)
    - tjr 8y ago
      I have heard that for an N-pound dog, it would take approximately N ounces of dark chocolate to be fatal. That's encouraging, because such a scenario seems very unlikely, even by accident, but I do not intentionally give my dog any chocolate at all.
- ff317 8y ago
  Caffeine is also present in many chocolates and chocolate products, and is also more toxic to dogs than it is to humans.
singularity2001 8y ago
According to my renown biochemistry professor it is poisonous to many humans too, they just don't know it. If you have any health problems try avoiding chocolate for a month; doing this experiment certainly won't harm you.
- elhudy 8y ago
  What was his or her stated mechanistic reason for believing this? I ask as a regular consumer of dark chocolate.
  - scythe 8y ago
    Theobromine, a chemical in coffee, affects the heart by imitating the neurotransmitter adenosine and also inhibits some subtypes of phosphodiesterase. Dogs can’t metabolize it; humans can, but there may be some effects. FWIW I’m skeptical of the prof’s claim. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theobromine http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theobromine
    - elhudy 8y ago
      Thanks! Apologies for taking this so far down the rabbit hole, but if dogs are unable to metabolize theobromine, then how does it leave their system?
      - nneonneo 8y ago
        "Can't" isn't quite accurate - what it really means is that the rate of metabolism is significantly slower. Dogs can (and will) eventually metabolize and eliminate theobromine, but the rate is slow enough that the compound can build to toxic levels quickly following ingestion. In general, mammals are capable of metabolizing and/or eliminating nearly any foreign organic compound over a long enough timespan, thanks to the mechanisms of xenobiotic metabolism. The liver contains a large number of enzymes of the Cytochrome P450 (CYP) family, which are able to catalyze reactions with a wide variety of compounds as the first (and most critical) step of metabolism. These reactions typically make the compounds hydrophilic, making it possible for the kidneys to pick them up and eliminate them. However, different animals express the various CYP enzymes at different levels; some are much more effective at metabolizing certain compounds (e.g. theobromine) than others. So, if an animal lacks a certain CYP enzyme (or it is expressed at a very low level), they will also metabolize certain compounds much slower (other enzymes, which are less efficient, will have to do the job). So, basically: dogs lack certain enzymes in their liver which means that they metabolize theobromine much slower than humans - but that doesn't mean they don't metabolize it at all.

newaccoutnas 8y ago

Indeed, an old dog I had managed to eat a stash of easter eggs and she was very ill, on a drip. There is dog-safe chocolate available from pet shops

black-tea 8y ago
Why bother, though? A dog will be just as happy eating its own vomit.
- unfunco 8y ago
  No, it wouldn't.
  - okmokmz 8y ago
    If there is vomit nearby my parents dog will choose it over it's own food
- newaccoutnas 8y ago
  Because carrying around dog-vomit as a dog treat isn't really socially acceptable?

SlowRobotAhead 8y ago

Mostly. It’s theobromine in chocolate. Present in most chocolate, but concentrated in baking or dark. It’s barely present at all in most medicore milk chocolates like the ones kraft makes large scale. A average chocolate bar and and average dog won’t get poison effects from theobromine, but could have a really bad reaction to that make calories and sugars. An average dog would need multiple average chocolate bars. Very much true for baking or dark chocolate though. A dark bar and a small dog can be a bad combination. Some dogs show a fair resistance to it but could still see liver damage.

cglace 8y ago
My jack Russell got into a pound of tootsie rolls. Found her twitching on the ground outside. Took her to the vet and she was put on an IV and she lived to 16.
- SlowRobotAhead 8y ago
  Scary! I wonder if it was theobromine poisoning or too much sugar? I guess tootsie rolls could be related to dark chocolate.
- logfromblammo 8y ago
  I once had a huge black Labrador Retriever (45 kg, and tall, not fat) that got up onto the kitchen countertop and ate almost an entire 32oz box of chocolate-almond bark. The only ill effect he apparently suffered from it was getting yelled at. Some of the other grossly inappropriate things he had ever eaten include a 60W incandescent light bulb, two toilet cleaner tank pucks, and the blue dog vomit caused by eating toilet cleaner pucks. This was not an animal with discerning tastes. Nevertheless, sweet milk chocolate doesn't have a lot of theobromine in it, and he was rather large for a lab. Didn't live to 16, but larger breeds usually don't.
  - antod 8y ago
    I grew up with a Golden Lab, your story doesn't surprise me :)
  - tjr 8y ago
    I have heard that for an N-pound dog, it would take approximately N ounces of dark chocolate to be fatal. That's encouraging, because such a scenario seems very unlikely, even by accident, but I do not intentionally give my dog any chocolate at all.
ff317 8y ago
Caffeine is also present in many chocolates and chocolate products, and is also more toxic to dogs than it is to humans.

singularity2001 8y ago

According to my renown biochemistry professor it is poisonous to many humans too, they just don't know it. If you have any health problems try avoiding chocolate for a month; doing this experiment certainly won't harm you.

elhudy 8y ago
What was his or her stated mechanistic reason for believing this? I ask as a regular consumer of dark chocolate.
- scythe 8y ago
  Theobromine, a chemical in coffee, affects the heart by imitating the neurotransmitter adenosine and also inhibits some subtypes of phosphodiesterase. Dogs can’t metabolize it; humans can, but there may be some effects. FWIW I’m skeptical of the prof’s claim. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theobromine http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theobromine
  - elhudy 8y ago
    Thanks! Apologies for taking this so far down the rabbit hole, but if dogs are unable to metabolize theobromine, then how does it leave their system?
    - nneonneo 8y ago
      "Can't" isn't quite accurate - what it really means is that the rate of metabolism is significantly slower. Dogs can (and will) eventually metabolize and eliminate theobromine, but the rate is slow enough that the compound can build to toxic levels quickly following ingestion. In general, mammals are capable of metabolizing and/or eliminating nearly any foreign organic compound over a long enough timespan, thanks to the mechanisms of xenobiotic metabolism. The liver contains a large number of enzymes of the Cytochrome P450 (CYP) family, which are able to catalyze reactions with a wide variety of compounds as the first (and most critical) step of metabolism. These reactions typically make the compounds hydrophilic, making it possible for the kidneys to pick them up and eliminate them. However, different animals express the various CYP enzymes at different levels; some are much more effective at metabolizing certain compounds (e.g. theobromine) than others. So, if an animal lacks a certain CYP enzyme (or it is expressed at a very low level), they will also metabolize certain compounds much slower (other enzymes, which are less efficient, will have to do the job). So, basically: dogs lack certain enzymes in their liver which means that they metabolize theobromine much slower than humans - but that doesn't mean they don't metabolize it at all.