My dog ate chocolate and died. Was the vet's treatment correct?

Question

My dog ate some cocoa last Wednesday and subsequently died. We brought him straight to the vet when we realised and the dog may have ingested the cocoa more than two hours prior. The vet gave the dog a heavy sedative to make him vomit (he couldn't walk afterward and his tongue was hanging out) and sent us home with some charcoal tablets. An hour or two later he had a seizure and died. We rushed him back to the vet but it was too late. My question is was the care administered by the vet the corre. Pet's info: Dog | Mixed Breed Small (up to 22lb) | Male | neutered | 22 lbs

Ann Dion, DVM · Accepted Answer

Hello and welcome to Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach. Chocolate toxicity and how it is treated is very dependent on how much was ingested and the weight of your dog, and the physical exam at the time of presentation. The way we typically treat chocolate toxicity is: 1. If no neurological signs to indicate it is dangerous (altered mentation, seizures, etc.) we induce vomiting with a drug called apomorphine- it does have a bit of a sedative effect but it is usually mild and wares off quickly. 2. If a 'smaller' dose of chocolate was ingested and a large portion of this chocolate came up with the vomiting, then we discuss hospitalization vs. trying at home. 3. Clinician dependent- some vets will give activated charcoal and some will not, and some give it sometimes depending on the situation. If a large amount of the chocolate is suspect to be in the GI tract still, and the airway is properly protected, then activated charcoal is given to try to absorb any further toxin from the gut. 4. If a large volume of chocolate was ingested and wasn't retrieved from the vomiting we would discuss keeping in hospital to administer IV fluids (chocolate is re-absorbed from the bladder so giving IV fluids helps the animal pee more and prevent re-absorption of the toxin, and also helps keep the dogs hydrated during the toxicity as they are often vomiting/having diarrhea- as that is the first sign of chocolate toxicity). 5. Monitor for 12-24 hours in hospital for signs of tachycardia (high heart rate), arrythmias (abnormal heart rhythm), hypertension (high blood pressure) and seizures. If any of these occur we treat symptomatically (we stop the sign that is happening). It is unusual for a dog to go from no clinical signs to seizures and death so quickly, so this would depend on the dose of chocolate ingested, and the events leading up to this. Also, seizures to cause death from chocolate toxicity normally need to be going on for >15min as it leads to an increased body temperature that affects the brain. Without further information, or really having been there to see Knuckles, I cannot tell you if your vet did the right thing or not, but it sounds like something else might have been going on. If you would like to discuss this case in more detail you can always have a 'consult' with one of the experts, but I think it would be better to go to your vet to discuss exactly what happened, and the dose of chocolate, etc. as without this information we cannot help give you answers. I am very sorry about Knuckles, I hope this answers some of your questions.

My dog ate chocolate and died. Was the vet's treatment correct?

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