How Much Chocolate Will Poison a Dog

1 How Much Chocolate Will Poison a Dog

Some dogs show no problem after eating chocolate, not even an adverse reaction — eating, drinking, and playing as usual! Are these dogs eating fake chocolate? Or maybe they are not dogs at all?

Chocolate is toxic

Why is this delicious thing for humans a fatal poison for dogs? Because the caffeine and theobromine in chocolate are both members of the methylxanthine family.

Methylxanthine is the key to chocolate poisoning in dogs.

These substances bind to certain receptors on cell surfaces, blocking the animal’s natural substances from binding to the receptors. A small dose of methylxanthines makes a dog vomit and have diarrhea, while humans feel euphoria.

How much chocolate makes a dog poisonous?

Generally, a dog’s chocolate poisoning reaction depends on body weight and the amount of methylxanthine ingested.

The darker the chocolate, the higher the methylxanthine content. For example, a Saint Bernard eating a piece of white chocolate may be fine, while a small Teddy biting a little dark chocolate may go into shock.

Mild to moderate poisoning: when a dog ingests 9–20 mg per kg of body weight of methylxanthine, mild to moderate poisoning signs appear.

Severe poisoning: when a dog ingests 40 mg per kg of body weight of methylxanthine, shock or even death is possible.

So how do you tell the methylxanthine content of each chocolate? The data below tells you.

Methylxanthine content of different chocolates

Every 28 g of white chocolate contains 1.1 mg of methylxanthine

Every 28 g of milk chocolate contains 64 mg of methylxanthine

Every 28 g of dark chocolate contains 150 mg of methylxanthine

Every 28 g of semi-sweet chocolate contains 160 mg of methylxanthine

Every 28 g of unsweetened chocolate contains 440 mg of methylxanthine

Every 28 g of cocoa beans contains 600 mg of methylxanthine

Every 28 g of cocoa powder contains 807 mg of methylxanthine

Every 28 g of cocoa bean shell contains 225 mg of methylxanthine

A small dog under 10 jin (5 kg) would need to eat about 200 g of white chocolate to be poisoned. Although this may relax you, what if this little dog ate cocoa powder? Just 4 g of cocoa powder can kill it.

Seeing this, do you instantly understand another point? Some dogs show no problem after eating chocolate because the methylxanthine they ingested is not yet life-threatening.

Yes, although not life-threatening, whether it leaves aftereffects is another matter.

Another important reason some dogs show no reaction after eating chocolate is that domestic chocolates have too low purity — that is, the caffeine and theobromine content inside is too low.