Easter chocs a danger for dogs

East Bundaberg Veterinary Hospital vet David Challen and practice manager Jackie Gilks warn dog owners of the dangers of feeding their pets chocolate over Easter.

Max Fleet

SHARING some of those Easter treats with a canine companion could be the death warrant for your dog, vets have warned.

East Bundaberg Veterinary Hospital's David Challen said chocolate was totally unsuitable to feed to dogs.

“It can cause hyper-excitability, the heart starts to beat faster, they get very nervous and very jumpy and it can lead to fitting and even death,” he said.

The most dangerous chocolates are the dark varieties such as cooking chocolate or dark chocolate.

“The heavier the chocolate is the worse the risk,” Dr Challen said.

He said the problem was chocolates were designed for human consumption and animals such as dogs had different metabolisms.

“It's like grapes, (which) cause kidney failure in dogs,” Dr Challen said.

“Onions can also kill animals but not humans.”

Dr Challen said dog owners should be aware their pets had special and different needs.

“That little thing running around your ankles is not a little human, it's an animal,” he said.

“Chocolate does not mean that much to them – they'd rather have a pat or a play.”

Dr Challen said dogs would not normally eat sweet things but humans taught them to enjoy sweet tastes.

“Young dogs are not born with the taste for sweet things but as we feed them sweet stuff like cakes or biscuits their tastebuds develop that way,” he said.

Dr Challen said there were treats for dogs that did not contain chocolate.

“Carob is not a chocolate – it's okay for animals. That's what the dog chocolates you see for sale are made of,” he said.