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At Easter, it's welcome to the annual festival of chocolate and the annual freak-out over the furry family sneaking an egg or two...
But dining on these sweet facts about chocolate and pets should have you all feeling a lot better. Because it's time to press pause on the panic and understand what really happens if your dog gets their paws on an Easter egg...
So here goes...
Fact One:
Chocolate contains a compound called ‘theobromine’. It’s similar to caffeine and is what gives dark chocolate that buzz that even us humans feel.
The problem? Dogs and cats don’t handle that buzz well and if they have too much, their nervous system becomes overstimulated and it causes seizures...and worse.
Fact Two:
The type of chocolate is crucial.
- White chocolate is not toxic
- Dark chocolate is more dangerous than milk chocolate
Fact Three:
The amount pets need to eat to have a problem is surprisingly high. When you see the sheer volume, you'll see why a gut upset (from the amount of fat) is often more common than an actual toxicity. And why a serious scoffing of a pet parent's chocolate stash is required.
Here's an example of what dogs need to eat to experience problems.
For a 35kg dog (Labrador size), it’s 1.4kg of milk chocolate.
For a 5kg dog (Poodle size), it’s 250g of milk chocolate.
And yes...the fat, sugar or even the foil will often make them sick before the chocolate does.
If you're having an Easter egg hunt and the hairiest member of the family seems determined to take part, I'd either keep them inside (recommended) or use only milk chocolate eggs in case some are left behind...
Did you know? Dark chocolate is around 3 times stronger so they'll only need to eat 1/3 of the above amount. Obviously, if you don’t know how much they’ve eaten, get them to the vet as soon as possible.
What about cats? Because cats don’t generally have a sweet tooth, it’s rare for them to eat chocolate. Chocolate milk is often the closest they come but it is comparatively quite low in theobromine.
While it should never be given as a treat, one tiny piece of chocolate or a tiny egg won’t kill them. And if they grab a small piece off the table, don't panic.
If it's an egg shaped treat they're after, why not try something that will actually be good for them. My Daily Boosters are a great alternative...
