Originally posted by nightzip:
28grams can cause serious symptoms for a 22 kg dog...thats serious!
If you're just going to do selective paragraphing, you're not going to get the rest of the story.
Quick Guide for Theobromine levels in different types of chocolate:
From The Merck Veterinary Manual, 8th ed
# Unsweetened (Baker's) chocolate = 390-450 mg Theobromine per oz chocolate
# Milk chocolate = 44-60 mg Theobromine per oz chocolate
Semi-sweet is a bit less than half of the Theobromine content as Baker's chocolate.
How much is too much?
The toxic dose of Theobromine (and caffeine) for pets is 100-200mg/kg. (1 kiliogram = 2.2 pounds). However, various reports by the ASPCA (American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals) have noted problems at doses much lower than this - i.e. 20mg/kg.
Translated to a "typical" scenario, and using the 20mg/kg as a measure of "problems can be seen at this level of ingestion", a 50 pound dog would have to consume 9 ounces (+/-) of milk chocolate to consume the 20mg/kg amount of Theobromine. Some dogs won't see problems at this rate. Some may.
This is a much more conservative toxic level calculation than the "standard" of 100-200mg/kg, but better safe than sorry. A dog sneaking a couple M&M's shouldn't have a problem, but it isn't a good habit to get into!
