My mastiff ate a bunch of chocolate

[Massive Mastiff]

My 9 month old female English Mastiff (120lbs) ate the candies from the Christmas stockings this included- a Large bag of peanut M&M's, a large bag and a half of Hershey's Kisses, 12 Ferro Rashers, four large Kit Kat bars, a bag of chocolate covered marshmallows, 6 Reese's peanut butter cups, a box of candy canes, a bag of jolly ranchers, and a bag of Swedish fish. This all happened while I was at work. She is free to roam the house when we are not home she. She rarely gets into trouble when left alone. But if I don't get home around noon to feed her she some times searches for food.
I gave her lots of water to drink freely. She seemed to have a tummy ache. I was up with her through out the night because she was restless. She had to go potty several times, all movements were water like. Does anyone have any insight on treatment, possible effects, ect? thanks Btw I have scheduled a vet visit but they can't see her until the 31st.

 

[raechiemay]

You told your vet your dog ingested a bunch of chocolate & your vet can't get you into the 31st? Wow. I'd find a new vet. That's a lot of chocolate. I'm sure you know chocolate is toxic to dogs? If she's having watery diarrhea & is acting lethargic, I'd take her to another vet today. Do you have an emergency vet nearby?

 

[ruthcatrin]

Emergency vet ASAP. Not cheap, but large quantities of chocolate can do seriously bad things to a dog, up to and including kill him.

 

[jenny adams]

ok from my quick search the worst of the symptoms occur in the first 24 hours, has she vomited if so did it have blood in it,
here is the info on chocolate poisoning, i hope she is ok i dont like the look of what could hapon please let us know how she gets on good luck,ray:
If a dog consumes enough theobromine, the symptoms of poisoning will occur. Initially, the dog will develop abdominal pain and vomiting which may contain blood. The vomit in most cases will contain substantial amounts of chocolate, giving it a very characteristic smell. The dog may be restless, drooling saliva and could have difficulty standing or walking. Increased thirst is also common.
As the syndrome progresses, in the more severely affected dogs, there is an increased rate of breathing, muscle tremors, or rigidity. Urine may contain blood and the colour of the gums may take on a bluish hue, (this is known as "cyanosis"). Eventually, the dog may develop convulsions and die.
In the majority of cases, the symptoms occur within a few hours, but it has been known to be delayed for as long as 24 hours. It can take as long as three days for the dog to recover completely

 

[ruthcatrin]

http://www.dogownersdigest.com/news/library/chocolate-dog-poisoning.shtml

You can recognize that your dog has eaten a toxic dose of chocolate from the symptoms. Within the first few hours, the evidence includes vomiting, diarrhea or hyperactivity. As time passes and there's increased absorption of the toxic substance, you'll see an increase in the dog's heart rate, which can cause arrhythmia, restlessness, hyperactivity, muscle twitching, increased urination or excessive panting.
This can lead to hyperthermia, muscle tremors, seizures, coma and even death.

You've got the first few symptoms already......

 

[Smokeycat]

My Irish Setter x ate about 3 lbs of chocolate chips when he was 4/5 months old. He threw it all up a few hours later and was very lethargic for the next 24 hours. When I called the vet I was told just to keep an eye on him since most of the toxin was already out of his system. The one thing I have since discovered is that he has a very large sweet tooth and any form of candy/cake/cookies is something that he has no inclination to ignore and therefore must be hidden or out of his reach.

To get back to your girl it sounds as if time has passed since she ate all of the chocolates so I'd think the danger has passed and now her body just has to reset. The next step is learning to hide her temptation.

 

[Smokeycat]

http://www.dogownersdigest.com/news/library/chocolate-dog-poisoning.shtml



You've got the first few symptoms already......

Wow. I hadn't seen that before, you might want to call your vet back or do an emergency vet.

 

[ruthcatrin]

Reeses PB cups (assuming these aren't the dark chocolate ones): 12.2mg of theobromine per package of 2 for a total of 36.6mg

1 1.5ounce Kit Kat Bar contains 48.7mg of theobromine, 4 would be 194mg (and the giant ones would be more obviously)

a single serve bag of milk chocolate peanut M&Ms contains 58.3mg of theobromine. Depending on which size bag this actually was you could be talking as much as 50 times that number, as much as 2915mgs

Assuming everything was milk chocolate and not dark thats a MINIMUM of 289.7mg of theobromine, without taking the marshmellows into account, or the hershey's kisses into account, without taking the larger size Kit Kats into account, assuming none of this was dark chocolate........ If the peanute M&Ms was the giant bag thats 3145.6mg (again, without taking the marshmellows into account, or the hershey's kisses into account, without taking the larger size Kit Kats into account, assuming none of this was dark chocolate....... )

Seriously consider an ER vet, asap, and seriously consider finding a new regular vet.....

---------- Post added at 05:46 PM ---------- Previous post was at 05:40 PM ----------

Finally found the Hershey kisses info, for every 9 pieces (approx 41grams) its an additional 61mg of theobromine......

 

[ruthcatrin]

Finally found the Hershey kisses info, for every 9 pieces of MILK CHOCOLATE kisses (approx 41grams) its an additional 61mg of theobromine......

 

[Massive Mastiff]

Thanks everyone for your advice and concern it has been about 24 hours since She (Binta) had ate all those candies. I had her outside a few times today and she seems ok, she will run and gallop but I try to settle her down as to keep her tummy from getting any more upset. I did not take her on our usual walk today i kept it short about a 1/4 mile. Her stool is getting increasingly stiffer now. She's a little more gassy than normal. She is still eating her dry food (Diamond puppy) but at a much slower pace than usual. We do hide and put up any food and/or sweets already. The room that all this candy was in has a tricky door and appears shut sometimes when it's not, I installed a new lock on that door today to prevent this from happening again. I do believe that her sickness from this is passing. I am more concerned about any long term effects that theobromine might have on her.
As for the vet, she had a check up and two shots on the ninth and has an appointment on the thirty first for another checkup. When I called the vet this morning and explained the situation, he said to give her plenty of fluids and rest and that he would see her on the 31st, he did say that if her symptoms got worse to contact him. About two months ago she ate a dozen chocolate cupcakes that were on the counter cooling. For that she had the runs and then was fine and he was familiar with that incident and recommended the same treatment.

---------- Post added at 06:08 PM ---------- Previous post was at 06:01 PM ----------

Thank you Ruthcatrin for all you helpful information!

 

[Massive Mastiff]

Thank you Ruthcatrin for all you helpful information!

 

[ruthcatrin]

Honey, your dog ate over 4 grams of theobromine, a substance that CAN KILL YOUR DOG. And your vet recommended fluids and rest???

---------- Post added at 06:30 PM ---------- Previous post was at 06:09 PM ----------

I had to go dig cause I didn't save the link. According to WebMD the Merck Vet Manual states (I've not been able to track down the actual reference in the Manual) that deaths have been reported at dosages of 115mg/kg of the dog's body weight. For 120lb dog that means just over 6 grams. Since I'm willing to bet that my estimated 4gram measure above is LOW not high, you're seriously pushing that amount. And the next step down from death is seizures.....AND it can take at a full day (or longer in some cases) for it to work out of the dog's system! I will agree that it does sound like your dog may be over the worst of it, but I don't find your vet's advice to be comforting AT ALL. Regardless of the dog's history.....

 

[ruthcatrin]

I had to go dig cause I didn't save the link. According to WebMD the Merck Vet Manual states (I've not been able to track down the actual reference in the Manual) that deaths have been reported at dosages of 115mg/kg of the dog's body weight. For 120lb dog that means just over 6 grams. Since I'm willing to bet that my estimated 4gram measure above is LOW not high, you're seriously pushing that amount. And the next step down from death is seizures.....AND it can take at a full day (or longer in some cases) for it to work out of the dog's system! I will agree that it does sound like your dog may be over the worst of it, but I don't find your vet's advice to be comforting AT ALL. Regardless of the dog's history.....

 

[Massive Mastiff]

I am going to change my vet. I am considering Banfeild. I have had other issues with my current vet, he i not impressing me with his practice but is well known and used in my community.
Binta is currently being active and playful as this is her normal behavior, so at this point I am continuing to keep a watchful eye on her. If I feel that her symptoms have made a turn for the worse I will consult a new vet and take her for treatment. But as of right now she seems to be doing progressively better.
One thing that I did forget to mention in my previous posts she did vomit 3 times with substantial amounts of regurgitation containing no blood.

 

[Robtouw]

My last oem did something just like yours, devoured loads of candy that he stole off of the counter. He had a bad stomach ache with diarrhea for about 24 hrs. I made him drink loads of water and let it run its course. She'll be fine, just keep an eye on her, keep her hydrated and take her to a vet if she vomits or poops blood, but at this point, I think from the description that she'll be just fine!

 

[swalls21]

I would have freaked the f out, if this had happened to my dog! Seriously scary!!

 

[NYDDB]

Always a good idea to keep some food-grade hydrogen peroxide on hand. It is an age-old remedy to have the dog swallow some- it will induce vomiting; exactly what you would want to do in this case (too late, now, obviously.)

 

[ruthcatrin]

Always a good idea to keep some food-grade hydrogen peroxide on hand. It is an age-old remedy to have the dog swallow some- it will induce vomiting; exactly what you would want to do in this case (too late, now, obviously.)

For a dog who's eaten chocolate, or raisons ok. But if its much of anything else check with the vet before inducing vomiting. There are things that will do more damage coming back up than staying down.....

 

[NYDDB]

For a dog who's eaten chocolate, or raisons ok. But if its much of anything else check with the vet before inducing vomiting. There are things that will do more damage coming back up than staying down.....

That's true (for dogs AND humans). But for chocolate and candy, I would induce straight away...

 

[masteneo]

Now see my pups never ate anything that vomiting would help(ie. lightbulbs, glass mystery item, small tools...) But now i have a game plan for chocolate. thanks