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How Should Dog Owners Keep Chocolate?

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Chocolate can be a delicious treat that many people enjoy. Even though this treat is edible for humans; it can be dangerous for animals, specifically canines. Dog owners should keep chocolate away from their pets or else it will harm the animal and potentially kill them. Dogs have different effects than humans do when ingesting food. When a dog eats chocolate is potentailly very dangerous. Depending on the weight and the amount that is eaten, it can be fatal. Dr. Tina Wismer, the medical director of the ASPCA Animal Poison Control Center, has said that dogs do not have an off button. She says that if a human were to eat ten percent of their body weight in chocolate then they would have the same problems. “A 10-pound dog can easily eat a pound of chocolate”(Saint Louis D4). Certain stimulants in chocolate can lead to vomiting, diarrhea, agitation, and sometimes life-threating elevated heart rates or even seizures. According to The Merck Vetrinary Manual, the signs of chocolate poisioning can appear two to twelve hours after ingestion. …show more content…

These beans contain stimulants, including caffeine and theobromine. These stimulants can be very dangerous to dogs. Theobromine is a bitter, volatile compound that is obtained from the cacao seeds. This alkaloid resembles caffine in physiological effects. This stimulant is similar to caffeine. Dogs metabolise this stimulant much slower than humans do. Because canine metabolise at a slower rate, it can cause the chocolate to be toxic. If a dog ingests between 100 and 250 mg per kg of the dog’s bodyweight then it can be fatal. With milk chocolate, the same size dog would need to eat around 500 grams for it to be fatal. White chocolate contains very little of the stimulant. The toxicity in this type is very unlikely. If the animal eats a huge amount there still may be signs of intestinal

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