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I wanted to share something that might help out others in a similar predicament. My aussie-retriever mix (We call her an Australian Sheprador Retriever) finds something that she would like to eat, and finds it in an instant of no supervision... BANG ... she does. Very quickly.
About 8 months ago, it was three bars of dark, dark chocolate (baaad dog, and baad for you, dog). Last night, she eased a gallon bag of chocolate-chip cookies (freshly made) off of the countertop and ate all of them... (again - baad dog).
Knowing that chocolate is dangerous for dogs, I knew that she needed to empty her stomach... fast. Last night I did again, what my vet told me after the dark chocolate bar incident... Use hydrogen peroxide (about an ounce or less for my 53 pounder). First time, I used a turkey baster to get it into the back of her mouth. Last night, not being able to find a baster or something, I used a baggie, put the H.P. in it, and held it up, cutting the corner off of the bag so I could get a little squirt going. With the help of a friend, I administered the peroxide.
Within approx 90 seconds to 2 minutes - everything exited the stomach. EVERYTHING. I hated to see her throw up, but it would have been worse if she hadn't done it. After she was done, she wagged her tail and looked sheepish, then headed over to an untouched area of the yard and began rolling around and rubbing the sides of her snout on the grass
SO - if your dog ingests a large quantity of chocolate, or something else that is edible, but is bad for dogs... grapes, etc. The hydrogen peroxide method worked well for me. Just MAKE SURE you are outside, or otherwise prepared for what comes next.
Location: The Frenchie Farm, Where We Grow 'em Big!
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Chocoolates may or may not be bad for dogs. My dog ate a half pound of plain M&M's. I called the vet. He calmed me down and asked if the product was made in the US. I looked and said yes it was. He assured me that nothing is going to happen except diarrhea. It's the foriegn chocolates and dairy products you have to worry about. Different pasturization process. So when our dogs are really good, we give them M&M's. Every vet we have encountered here in LA say the same thing. It's the foriegn pasturization you have to worry about.
So, let's stop scaring the owners out there with the choclate boogie man. It's a big myth! I've been doing it for years and the dogs are OK!
Let me get a VOTE... who has feed their dog/puppy cottage cheese? It's a milk product, isn't it?
We had a Bichon that loved chocolate. We knew this because every time she ate too much, she'd vomit, showing us the results. We'd then go and find out which of the kids left their candy at her level. she also had an iron stomach. Once, the dogs got into some Rimadyl pills and we didn't know which one did it. Our GSD and GR vomited almost immediately from the hydrogen peroxide while the Bichon did nothing after three doses.
I too use hydrogen peroxide to make my dogs vomit. I had run out for about 15 minutes not thinking there was a backpack I was taking to work that had a large box of chocolates that I had gotten as a gift and planned to share with my co workers on the table. My dogs were both yound and both tended to steal food so when I came home I did not know if it was just one or both or which one so they both got taken out on the patio and given the hydrogen peroxide and and within minutes I knew who had eaten the chocolates.
It is the dark chocolates that are real bad for dogs and it is the theobromides that cause the problem. They are related to theophylline which is a drug that was often used in asthma. It can cause abnormal heart rhythms that can be life threatening. I do not see how it could be the pasturization process as all chocolates have theobromides and dark chocolate has the most while milk chocolate has the least. Unless you have a very sensitive dog a M&M or piece of chocolate chip cookie will do nothing but most vets will say avoid all chocolate.
You can make your dog vomit AS LONG AS YOU KNOW IT WON'T HARM THE DOG ON ITS WAY BACK UP!!!!
Something caustic or sharp is NOT the kind of thing you want vomited up again.
And it's the theobromine in chocolate (as well as the caffeine) that's so deadly for dogs. They're much more sensitive to it than people are and and suffer with cardiac arrhythmias, etc. when chocolate is eaten. And DARK chocolate is the worst!
You can make your dog vomit AS LONG AS YOU KNOW IT WON'T HARM THE DOG ON ITS WAY BACK UP!!!!
Something caustic or sharp is NOT the kind of thing you want vomited up again.
And it's the theobromine in chocolate (as well as the caffeine) that's so deadly for dogs. They're much more sensitive to it than people are and and suffer with cardiac arrhythmias, etc. when chocolate is eaten. And DARK chocolate is the worst!
Very good point! We have had to use hydrogen peroxide on my mother's dog (35lbs) after she litterly binged on our dogs (60lb and 78lb) food and her own breakfast...she had a quick onset of food bloat. We called the local ER and they explained the proper dosing of hydrogen peroxide to get her to vomit. They also explained what we needed to look for to determine that we did indeed need to bring her porker butt in to the ER. Luckly all worked out well at home and we were able to ease her discomfort. Gesh...now we have to watch her like a hawk to make sure she doesn't steal other dogs food.
It is definitely scarey when our dogs get into things they shouldn't! The chocolate thing is kind of weird because different dogs react in different ways, some dogs can be in big trouble with just a tiny bit, and others can eat a whole bag of hersheys kisses and be fine (at least in the short term, don't know if they may suffer for it later).
Hydrogen peroxide generally works, but note that if you can get your dog to a vet quickly, they can give an injection that will induce vomiting and is probably a little less harsh on the esophagus and stomach. But we do tell clients to use peroxide if it is urgent. The shot works really quickly and with impressive results (we had a client call panicked that her dog just ate her daughters underwear, so she brought her in and about 1 min after the shot, up they came! We all felt bad for her daughter because we figured she would be really embarassed by the fact that a few dozen strangers saw her underwear) Just wanted to make people aware that this is a possible alternative to peroxide in some situations.
[quote=brikag;4094049]Chocoolates may or may not be bad for dogs. My dog ate a half pound of plain M&M's. I called the vet. He calmed me down and asked if the product was made in the US. I looked and said yes it was. He assured me that nothing is going to happen except diarrhea. It's the foriegn chocolates and dairy products you have to worry about. Different pasturization process. So when our dogs are really good, we give them M&M's. Every vet we have encountered here in LA say the same thing. It's the foriegn pasturization you have to worry about.
So, let's stop scaring the owners out there with the choclate boogie man. It's a big myth! I've been doing it for years and the dogs are OK!
QUOTE]
My ravenous pooch ate two large bars of 70% cocoa dark chocolate. My vet told me to empty the stomach quickly. The darker the chocolate, the more trouble for the dog. M&M's are probably abou 99% sugar, 1% cocoa. (But they are pretty good...mmmmm)
Chocoolates may or may not be bad for dogs. My dog ate a half pound of plain M&M's. I called the vet. He calmed me down and asked if the product was made in the US. I looked and said yes it was. He assured me that nothing is going to happen except diarrhea. It's the foriegn chocolates and dairy products you have to worry about. Different pasturization process. So when our dogs are really good, we give them M&M's. Every vet we have encountered here in LA say the same thing. It's the foriegn pasturization you have to worry about.
So, let's stop scaring the owners out there with the choclate boogie man. It's a big myth! I've been doing it for years and the dogs are OK!
Let me get a VOTE... who has feed their dog/puppy cottage cheese? It's a milk product, isn't it?
It's NOT a myth, your vet was wrong!!! I had a dear friend whom nearly lost her minpin to organic dark chocolate. Thankfully after 3 days in the emergency vet hospital the dog finally pulled through. I have personally witnessed 3 different breeds of dogs get sick on milk chocolate and it wasn't pretty, again thankfully it was only the cheap American made milk chocolate products that made them sick and not deathly sick. If you want to continue to feed your dogs M&M's as a treat go ahead, even if they seem relatively unaffected by it, however I reccommend considering a different treat to reward them with. I would avoid most candy in general, I learned the hard way with gummy worms, yucky yucky coming out the back side. Fortunately all my dogs love bananas so from now on that is the only treat they get.
It's the foriegn pasturization you have to worry about. So, let's stop scaring the owners out there with the choclate boogie man. It's a big myth! I've been doing it for years and the dogs are OK!
Sounds like you've been lucky--or rather, your dog has. What's EQUALLY as important, if not more so is the size/weight of the dog and the amount consumed. My former neighbors in Boston had chocolate Girl Scout cookies--clearly made in the U.S. Their pug got into them, ate a whole box and boom, DEAD. That's pretty scary to me, and I'd certainly rather know about it than not...so let's stop "misinforming" the owners about the "chocolate boogie man" is what I say!
~PudelPie
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) Just wanted to make people aware that this is a possible alternative to peroxide in some situations.
)
Girl Scout Cookies and a Dead Pug
