By tohme
Date 27.05.04 12:53 UTC
In the worst case scenario it can kill them.
Chocolate contains a xanthine compound, theobromine, that is toxic in sufficient quantities. Examples of other xanthine compounds are caffeine and theophylline. The toxicity from all of these compounds is similar.
It takes a fairly large amount of chocolate to cause problems.
The Lethal Dose 50 (dose at which 1/2 of the dogs exposed to a substance will die) is about 100mg/kg for chocolate.
The dose that causes signs of toxicity, such as excitement, increased urination, muscle tremors and rapid heart rate may occur at a lower dosage.
Using a dose of 100mg/kg as the toxic dose the toxic dosages per pound of body weight for dogs work out to be roughly:
1 ounce per pound of body weight (2 ounces per kg of body weight) for milk chocolate.
1 ounce per 3 pounds of body weight ( 1 ounce per 1.5 kg body weight) for semi-sweet chocolate
1 ounce per 9 pounds of body weight ( 1 ounce per 4 kg) for cooking chocolate.
It is best not to feed chocolate to dogs at any time.