10/28/2026
Happy Halloween, DCVS clients!!! Drop us a picture of your pet in their costume in the comments!
Remember to keep all the goodies away from your pets this week!
Chocolate can be toxic to dogs. Dogs are more deeply affected by two components of chocolate, theobromine and caffeine. Baking and dark chocolate have the highest concentrations of these components, while milk chocolate dilutes them more. It's further diluted when it's a candy that maybe only coated in milk chocolate and is primarily other ingredients like caramel or nuts. White chocolate usually contains none, as it's usually made with just cocoa butter and milk solids. Unlike you or me, dogs have a very difficult time metabolizing these two ingredients, and they act as a dangerous stimulant.
Here's a little guide on chocolate toxicity in dogs.
Always check with your veterinarian first, but in a pinch or emergency situation (consuming a very large amount of chocolate that is very concentrated like baking or dark where minutes count) see below.
If you think your dog has gotten into too much chocolate, you can make them vomit by giving them 1 ml of 3% hydrogen peroxide (fresh bottle) per lb of body weight (capped at 25mls for big dogs). Then take them outside for a walk. Vomiting generally occurs in 10-15 minutes. If vomiting doesn't occur within that time, you can repeat the dose one more time. If that doesn't work, contact your veterinarian. We like them to vomit until we see no more chocolate.
Hydrogen Peroxide should be fresh for best results.
See the link for a chocolate toxicity calculator in comments for more information.
