Saturday, April 7, 2012

Pet Friendly Easter Avoid Chocolate for your Furry Friends

By Heather Richards


While you could be getting excited about the abundance of treats over Easter, remember that chocolate is toxic, and occasionally even deadly if ingested by our pets. So follow these straightforward pointers and make your Easter a Pet Friendly holiday for your pets.

To reduce possibility of consumption, don't leave chocolate in a spot that your pet can reach. This is vital when leaving eggs out for an Easter hunt and it is best to count the number of eggs you hide and make sure all have been found before your furry friend gets to them!

The Easter egg hunt is great fun for us adults and the children, however when pets are around, consider another fun activity of hide and seek, and then maybe rewarding the finder of the treasures with there Easter eggs, then there is no need to put the chocolate in reach and therefore endangering our beloved pets.

Dogs are most commonly affected by chocolate toxicity as they are superb at searching out mouth-watering morsels, even thru plastic wrapping. It's vital to recollect that moggies and other species are at the mercy of the dangerous results of chocolate too.

What makes chocolate noxious?

Chocolate contains Theobromine, a caffeine derivative that cannot be metabolized by our pets.

Why isn't chocolate toxic to humans?

Humans can break down and excrete Theobromine much better than our pets.

What to watch out for:

Symptoms from any quantity of chocolate consumption usually occur inside hours of ingestion

- hyperactivity
- tremors
- racing heart beat
- barfing, diarrhoea
- episodes
- death

Is certain chocolate more noxious than others?

Yes. The more cocoa that's in the chocolate, the more damaging it is. Cooking chocolate is about seven times more toxic than milk chocolate

Here is a guide to a possibly lethal amount for a 10kg dog:

- 70g cooking chocolate
- 200g semi sweet/dark chocolate
- 600g milk chocolate

If your pet eats chocolate you want to seek vet attention right away.




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