Most of us have heard that chocolate can make dogs sick. But how serious is the risk?

If your canine companion is more family member than pet, you may be in the habit of sharing the foods your family loves with him.

Although some people foods are fine in moderation, this is definitely not the case with chocolate.

Chocolate can sicken and even kill dogs, and it is one of the most common causes of canine poisoning, say veterinarians who spoke to WebMD.

Veterinarian Michelle DeHaven says the worst case of chocolate poisoning she ever saw happened when some owners fed their eight-pound poodle a pound of chocolate on his birthday.

“We had to treat the dog with fluids and anti-seizure medication for five days,” says DeHaven, who practices in Smyrna, Ga. “Every time we stopped the meds he would start seizuring again. You wouldn’t feed a kid a pound of chocolate, but they fed it to a small dog.”

Most experts say that although no amount of chocolate is OK for your dog to consume, it would take a large quantity to kill him. Furthermore, the real risk lies with dark and baker’s chocolate; milk and white chocolate pose a much less serious risk.

What Makes Chocolate Poisonous to Dogs?

Chocolate is made from cocoa, and cocoa beans contain both caffeine and a related chemical compound called theobromine, which is the real danger.

The problem is that dogs metabolize theobromine much more slowly than humans, Denver veterinarian Kevin Fitzgerald, PhD, tells WebMD.

“The buzz we get from eating chocolate may last 20 to 40 minutes, but for dogs it lasts many hours,” he says. “After 17 hours, half of the theobromine a dog has ingested is still in the system.”

Theobromine is also toxic to cats, but there are very few reported cases of theobromine poisoning in felines because they rarely eat chocolate.

Dogs, on the other hand, will eat just about anything.

Even small amounts of chocolate can cause vomiting and diarrhea in dogs. Truly toxic amounts can induce hyperactivity, tremors, high blood pressure, a rapid heart rate, seizures, respiratory failure, and cardiac arrest.

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