Too Much Chocolate?
Humans love chocolates. In fact, some people love it so much they
have it in their landscapes – as mulch, that is. Over the past
few years, the use of cocoa bean mulches has become more popular. They
not only prevent weeds, they also look attractive and smell wonderful.
However, dogs are also attracted to this sweet, chocolaty smell and
that can be dangerous for your pooch.
Research has shown that this mulch may be ingested as dogs dig through
it. Of course, this may not be an issue if your dog is well behaved
and understands that gardens are to be appreciated from a distance.
My dog, however, loves to be directly involved with any gardening activity.
She also loves to dig and will put just about anything in her mouth.
My guess is that she is more the rule than the exception. So what happens
when dogs ingest cocoa mulch?
Chocolate contains two compounds that are toxic to dogs. They are
methylxanthines, specifically theobromine and caffeine and each has
an LD50 of 100 to 100 mg/kg. The LD50 is the quantity of a chemical
calculated to be lethal to 50 percent of the organisms in a specific
test situation. It is expressed in weight of the chemical (milligrams)
per unit of body weight (kilograms). However, severe and life-threatening
clinical signs may be seen well below this dose. Seizures can occur
at 60 mg/kg and mild signs such as vomiting, diarrhea, bloating and
restlessness can occur at only 20 mg/kg (ASPCA/APCC Database: Unpublished
data).
So how much is too much for a pooch? The amount of methylxanthines
in cocoa hulls is substantial at 255 mg/oz. And that’s just the
theobromine; no data was available for caffeine. In comparison, milk
chocolate has only 64 mg/oz of methylxanthines and less than 1 oz of
milk chocolate/lb (2oz/kg) is potentially lethal to dogs. So 65 oz
(4 lb) of milk chocolate would be potentially lethal for my 65 lb.
dog. But, if she were to eat cocoa hull mulch, by my calculations,
it would only take about 2.25 oz to produce mild signs and 12 oz to
be potentially lethal. Of course, these amounts would be much less
for a smaller dog. Some manufacturers do include a warning statement
on the bag. So, if you have dogs or wandering neighborhood dogs, another
type of mulch should be considered.
For more information, call your local veterinarian or animal poison
control center. You can reach a link to the center by clicking on http://www.aspca.org.
Also at this site is an article on chocolate intoxication (http://www.aspca.org/apcc/toxbrief_0201.pdf)
that gives detailed information on clinical signs and treatment, as
well as an example for calculating the methylxanthine dosage. At the
above Web address, you’ll also find information on protecting
your pet from pesticides and fertilizers, as well as a list of plants
that are toxic to pets.
Source: Michelle Wiesbrook and Sharon Gwaltney-Brant, University
of Illinois
June
2003
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