Chocolate: Maybe When I’m Older

I’m going to try to make light of a dark subject. I love chocolate, but not the puny milk chocolate…the real deal 60% Cacao dark chocolate.

But now I think I love it a little less.

I went out tonight with friends and when I came home at about 11 pm Kodie was barking at me, which she has never done. I thought it was really odd and when I got to the top of the stairs I found a shredded wrapper. It took me a minute to figure out what it was…Kodie had eaten an entire bar of Hershey’s Extra Dark Chocolate – 60% Cacao.

My heart sank. I couldn’t believe my negligence. I had forgotten all about it. I was in a hurry to get Kodie fed and walked when I came in after work so I could meet my friends. As I tossed my lunch bag on the table I heard the clinkity-clinks and thought, “It’s all sealed plastic containers. I can take care of it when I get back.” Yeah, it was all plastic containers except for the 3 ounces of extra dark chocolate.

Trying to not to panic I called my dog-savvy friend. He didn’t know the symptoms of chocolate toxicity in dogs. I turned to the Internet and learned a lot.

• Theobromine is the toxic chemical in chocolate, not the caffeine
• Dangerous quantities of Theobromine for a 40 lb. dog is 2 ½ lbs. of milk chocolate or 4 ½ oz. of unsweetened chocolate which is approximately 1800 mg. of Theobromine (source)
• Symptoms of chocolate poisoning are hyperactivity, frequent/uncontrolled urinating, excessive thirst, vomiting, diarrhea, rapid breathing/heart rate, muscle tremors, and coma
• Normal respiratory rate for a resting dog is 18-34 breaths per minute
• Normal heart rate for a resting dog is 70-120 beats per minute (source)

So, finding this information made me feel a little better. I just had some figuring to do. I figured that:

• Kodie ate approximately 3 ounces of dark, sweetened chocolate, resulting in about 390 mg. of Theobromine which isn’t at a toxic level unless she is ultra-sensitive

So now I'm a nervous wreck and probably won’t be able to sleep because I’ll have to check her to make sure she didn’t slip into a coma…yeah, whatever. So that symptom was last on the list. Thankfully all she has exhibited so far is hyperactivity. I played with her for a while thinking she needed to blow off some steam, then I considered the fact that it was really the chocolate making her hyper and maybe we shouldn’t play.

Now she’s just lying in her bed like nothing has happened. And I’ll tell you exactly what happened.

Jodi is obviously can’t handle the responsibility of having certain sweet treats in the house. Well, maybe when I’m a little older.