Written by our vet (Simon Hayes BVM&S MRCVS)

I think most people are now aware of the dangers of chocolate to dogs, unfortunately I don’t think dogs have realised yet.

Recently a little dog called pickles happily walked in wagging his tail. His owner had been out and when she came back, the box of chocolate truffles which had been attached safely to the Christmas tree, was nowhere to be seen. Just a small piece of the cardboard box was left, semi-chewed on the floor. Little did Pickles know that he had actually eaten enough to be a toxic dose that could potentially kill him. Chocolate contains caffeine and in this is a substance called Theobromine. This is what gives us a 10-20 minute rush after eating chocolate, but dogs metabolise Theobromine very slowly and it causes all sorts of problems. Dark chocolate is much more dangerous, but Pickles had eaten enough milk chocolate to be a problem.

We injected him with a drug to make him vomit. And wow did he vomit! If you’ve never had the pleasure of multiple chocolate vomits you’re missing out. It’s enough to put you off (for a few hours anyway!). I felt that hopefully we had got to him in time and the amount of chocolate he brought up should have stopped its absorption. To be safe we administered an activated charcoal solution to soak up the toxins. Poor Pickles – he looked like a chimney sweep with charcoal all stuck to his beard. Imagine the nurse’s joy when he shook his head spraying charcoal and chocolate vomit around the room!!!

Pickle’s heart rate continued to go up and his ECG showed a sinus tachycardia which can be very dangerous so we started him on Beta blockers to slow his heart down. He was put onto intravenous fluids and monitored overnight. Fortunately, his heart stabilised and he never developed seizures. He was one of the lucky ones.

There are so many dangers to dogs and cats at this time of year. Just take a look at the terrible advert Morrisons put out (which they have now withdrawn) showing a boy feeding Christmas pudding to his dog. Raisins and sultanas are also toxic to dogs and can cause fatal kidney failure.