Daily Dose of Dogs, Cats, Candy & Questions

They say dogs should not eat chocolate.  They say it’s not good for them.  They even sometimes say it will kill them.  Those dog lover fanatic people get all hysterical if you talk about dogs eating chocolate.  I think its bull.

I think chocolate is only unhealthy for dogs in the same way it is unhealthy for people.  I think it will only kill them in the same way it kills people.  I think those dog lover fanatic people who get all hysterical are like the food nazis who get all upset about kids eating chocolate. 

The reason I think this is I have dogs eating chocolate experience.  Tons of it.  Every single holiday – from Halloween to Christmas to Valentine’s Day to Easter the darn black dog eats an abundance of candy – generally chocolate candy.  And he’s not dead.  Yet.  In fact, he has not even indicated he has a stomach ache after eating almost a full basket of Easter candy yesterday on top of eating a half dozen chocolate covered peanut butter eggs TW and the kids made the day before on top of eating a 1/4 of a bag of semi-sweet chocolate chips that fell onto the floor the day before that.

So – if dogs do, in fact, die from eating chocolate – why hasn’t this one died?  Or why hasn’t his much older, much more fragile, mother who has also indulged in a good bit of chocolate every holiday since she came to live with us fallen ill?  And why didn’t the black lab who lived with us before these two cockers die from eating chocolate?  And what about the white spitz we had before that?  Or the mutt we had before that?  What kind of dogs get sick from eating chocolate? What kind die?  Is it a certain kind of chocolate and chocolate eaten on holidays doesn’t cause illness or death?

And while I’m questioning the truth vs myth factor of dogs eating chocolate – do cats get sick from eating chocolate? Do they die?  Because I’ve got one who is working on eating her weight in chocolate… and she’s showing no ill effects.  Sigh.

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7 thoughts on “Daily Dose of Dogs, Cats, Candy & Questions”

  1. I don’t know where that came from….J has some terrible story from a dog eating chocolate covered almonds once, but no death resulted…can’t say our cats are fond of chocolate but pnut butter and orange icing are another thing entirely

  2. Orange icing = Halloween cupcakes?

    Not sure if Piper likes chocolate or not. I don’t eat enough of it for her to want to try it. I bet she’d eat chocolate ice-cream though (even though I don’t).

  3. Hi

    When we got our puppy two years ago I looked for a list of toxic food, which I found here: http://www.peteducation.com/article.cfm?cls=2&cat=1661&articleid=1030.

    A friend of ours who is a biochemist looked into the matter and explained that these foods do indeed contain toxic elements. Basically there are two problems: the first (one you’ll know) – once a dog has tasted chocolate, he’ll always crave for more. The second – the toxic elements never entirely leave the dog’s body (the so-called half life). Traces are stocked in the liver and over time of course, the amount grows and can still cause the effects mentioned.

    More information on chocolate here:
    http://www.dogownersdigest.com/news/library/chocolate-dog-poisoning.shtml

    We’ve avoided giving our dog all the things on the list, just to be on the safe side.

    If you really want to give your dog chocolate, there’s special dog chocolate now, that does not contain any theobromide.

    btw:
    Have you read my story about Habib?

  4. Interesting, toxic elements and half life. Very interesting! Thanks Lies.

    For the record, we don’t want to give the dog chocolate – not really. Children simply leave the chocolate where he can access it and access it, he does. Every single holiday. Without fail.

    Nope, I haven’t read your story about Habib- I’ll try and track that down.

  5. travellingpaws

    Heh. My dogs like chocolate chip cookies and grapes (another things that can actually make dogs very sick, or dead.)
    Everything in moderation. :~)
    Mind you it is a possibility, I know someone who almost lost their dog due to liver failure, when the dog ate a huge bag of M&Ms. BIG vet bill! It’s like smoking – bad for you and causes lung cancer. But, mosty smokers don’t die of lung cancer, and many smokers live long, fairly healthy lives.

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