my dog and chocalate

Question
my dog is a 2 yr old border collie mix ... today i was baking some peanut butter cookies and i noticed there was a cookie on the ground but it only had one little bite takin off ... after i read the cookie ingriedients and it said it had milk choclate and choclate mixed in there... do u think he will be ok??... can u give me some pointers on what i should do?... and my vet is a liitle far from here so do u think i will have to take him to a vet he only had a little piece...

thank you
renae

Answer
Hi Renae,

Thank you for writing to me about your border collie mix.

As you know, chocolate is very toxic for a dog.  You have a choice of bringing him to your vet or taking a chance that since the piece he bit off was very small, that he will be ok.  

You said that the ingredients were milk chocolate and chocolate.  Does that mean that the "chocolate" was dark?  That has a more dramatic effect on a dog than milk chocolate which is more diluted.

I can only tell you what I would do...I would give my dog activated charcoal (as per the directions on the box per weight) and something to coat the stomach, such as pepto bismo or a similiar product...and keep a watchful eye.

Encourage drinking lots of water, even if you have to add chicken or beef broth to his drinking bowl.

I would keep a very watch eye on him and at the first sign of distress, absolutely rush him to the emergency room.

Best of luck,
Shelley Davis