It hasn’t even been a week since Valentine’s Day, so chances are that you may have some delicious dark chocolate truffles or a tantalizing box of heart-shaped milk chocolates lying around your home. While you may be thoroughly enjoying your delicious chocolate, it is not a smart idea to let your dog share this snack. In fact, dogs can become extremely ill from chocolate. This is called chocolate poisoning and can be a very serious and potentially lethal situation for your pet. Dogs don’t have the discretion to determine what they should and should not eat, so chances are that your puppy does not understand that the chocolate is a horrible choice in snack.

Because dogs have an excellent sense of smell, they can normally sniff out a pungent odor like the smell of chocolate, even if you try to hide the candy from them. Because of this, it is important that you keep any chocolate completely out of reach in a child-proof area. For example, keep the chocolate on a high dresser that is not close to any chairs where your dog could somehow reach the box. You can also keep chocolate in a child-proof cupboard. A determined dog may try to get the cupboard open if there is no child-lock installed.

Chocolate is dangers to dogs because of the substance from which it is derived. Chocolate comes from the roasted seeds of Theobroma cacao, which contains certain properties that are toxic to animals. Two of these properties are caffeine and theobromine. If both of these ingredients are ingested, then it can lead to medical complications or can prove fatal for your dog. Depending on the size of your pet, a small amount of chocolate may pack a larger or smaller punch. Also, the type of chocolate consumed can make a large difference in how it will affect your pet. Typically, dark chocolate will have a more severe affect than milk chocolate will, and Baker’s chocolate can create a severe condition for even a heavy dog who consumes as little as two ounces.

Semi-Sweet chocolate can be moderately harmful, but it will take a larger dosage to significantly harm the average size dog. If a dog consumes cocoa powder then this can be very dangerous and can create an extremely severe condition. Interestingly enough, white chocolate rarely has any effect on dogs so you should not have to worry about this. When a dog consumes chocolate, chances are that the pet will start vomiting and will have diarrhea almost right away. As well, he or she may obtain a fever, and pay start breathing rapidly.

In some cases, dogs will start displaying signs of muscle rigidity and will struggle with low blood pressure. In addition, the animal may have an increased hear rate and an increased reflex response. Sometimes the pet may even have seizures as a result. In some of the most extreme cases of chocolate poisoning, a dog may display signs of cardiac failure, weakness, coma, and may even die from the chocolate. This can also happen if your pet gets into a snack that has some of these ingredients. For example, if your pet eats a slice of chocolate cake, chances are that it will have the same effect that eating chocolate would have had on your animal. If you want more information about chocolate poisoning, or want to locate a vet who can help you in the event of a chocolate poisoning emergency, then contact a local vet using this directory today. The veterinarians that are listed in this directory are more than willing to help you with your medical emergency.