Chocolate

Question
Hi, my 5-6 lb chihuahua consumed about 20 hershey kisses yesterday. We called the local animal hospital and the vet told us to give her about 20 cc's of hydrogen peroxide and then a little pepto bismol. We did that and she threw up what we believe to be the majority of the chocolate w/in minutes. She drank lots of water since then and is acting better now. My question is, is there any other signs or symptoms I should be watching for since she's thrown up that could mean its still in her system or should she be okay since she through most of it up?

Answer
Dear Abbey,
Probably there will be no problems since you got her to vomit quickly. For future reference, you can go to http://www.hersheys.com/nutrition/theobromine.asp There I found that HERSHEY'S KISSES Brand Chocolate 9 pieces (41g) 74mg
So 20 would be about 150 mg. This is getting close to what some sources say is the lethal dose for a small dog - 180 mg of theobromine. Do not worry, because most of it would not have been absorbed.

The lesson is to keep baking chocolate and very good quality chocolates out of reach of your animals.

Because the theobromine in chocolate is metabolized very slowly in dogs, it can cause a number of symptoms and even death in some dogs. Not all dogs have the same sensitivity to chocolate. The darker the chocolate, the more throbromin % is in it.

Some signs of poisoning can include:

Hyper excitability
Hyper irritability
Increased heart rate
Restlessness
Increased urination
Muscle tremors
Vomiting
Diarrhea
Convulsions and seizures

If you are interested in having your great dog live a very long and healthy life, check out www.ChristinaChambreau.com, www.HealthyAnimalsJournal.com and www.VetAdviceLine.com
Dr. Chambreau