Humans aren’t the only creatures who overindulge during the holidays.
In December, dogs are more than twice as likely to scarf down a toxic dose of chocolate than any other time of year—perhaps because their human companions have stocked up on candies, cocoa and baking bars for gifts and treats.
“Dogs love chocolate, and they really have no off button,” said Tina Wismer, medical director of the Animal Poison Control Center, or APCC. “They’re not going to eat just one brownie. They’re going to eat an entire pan of brownies.”
The harmful substances in chocolate are theobromine and caffeine. Small amounts can cause a dog to vomit, and larger doses can cause a racing heart, seizures or death. (Cats are also susceptible but are less likely to gobble down the goodies.)
Last year, the APCC, which is operated by the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, logged 20,865 calls to its hotline for cases of canine chocolate exposure. All other foods combined accounted for 21,532 calls from dog owners, trailing prescription drugs with 33,486 calls and over-the-counter drugs with 37,841.
To learn when dogs are at greatest risk of chocolate exposure, researchers in the U.K. used health records collected from 229 veterinary practices between November 2012 and May 2017. They found that nearly five times as many dogs ate chocolate in the weeks surrounding Christmas compared with other periods, beating out Easter, Valentine’s Day and Halloween.
The dogs sniffed out chocolate in Advent calendars, Christmas-tree decorations, Santa figurines, cakes, liqueurs and hot cocoa, among other sweets. No breed was associated with a greater risk of downing the poison, and the total number of pets requiring treatment or monitoring was low—only 375 in more than five years.
More From Numbers
But a similar trend is apparent in the APCC’s larger data set. Last year, it received 189,657 calls from dog owners; 11% were about chocolate, and the number of chocolate calls more than doubled in December, when 3,542 came in compared with an average of 1,575 for the other months.
“People give gifts of chocolate that are wrapped and put under the tree,” Dr. Wismer said. “What does a dog say? Oh, fabulous—a snack! They can smell right through the paper.”
Trupanion, which insures pets in the U.S. and Canada, sees the same pattern in it claims data. The company receives 2.5 to 3 times as many chocolate-toxicity claims in December compared with the rest of the year, according to Mary Rothlisberger, vice president of analytics.
Part of the danger for pets is that darker chocolates, which have more of the toxins, have grown increasingly popular.
“It used to be only moms who ate the special dark chocolate,” Dr. Wismer said. “Now, you can get bars that are 75% or 80% cocoa. We love this stuff today.”
Milk chocolate—the least toxic option—has around 64 milligrams of theobromine and caffeine an ounce, according to the Merck Veterinary Manual. Dark chocolate contains 150 to 160 milligrams. Cocoa powder has about 800 milligrams. And baker’s chocolate, which is 100% cacao, has about 450 milligrams.
For a dog, a deadly dose is approximately 100 to 200 milligrams per kilogram of body weight (about 2.2 pounds), but vomiting may occur with much lower doses.
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As an example, 3 ounces of milk chocolate might cause a 20-pound dog to vomit, but 14 ounces could kill it, Dr. Wismer said. About 3.5 ounces of semisweet or bittersweet chocolate could kill a dog this size, and as little as 1 ounce of baker’s chocolate could end its life.
(My favorite brownie recipe calls for 4 ounces of baker’s chocolate, plus 2 ounces of bittersweet chocolate. A single brownie could cause a small dog to vomit.)
Concerned owners can call the APCC hotline 24 hours a day, seven days a week for help. The organization also offers an app for mobile phones that allows owners to see whether the amount of chocolate or other substances a pet has consumed is likely to be dangerous. (Dogs are also sensitive to grapes, raisins, onions, garlic and Xylitol, a sweetener used in gums and candies.)
The average cost of treatment for chocolate exposure, according to Trupanion’s data, is $450 and may involve inducing the dog to disgorge.
But before things get out of hand, it might be better to deliver this command to the sugar hounds in your life: Keep your paws off the chocolate.
Write to Jo Craven McGinty at Jo.McGinty@wsj.com
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