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My small dog ate milk chocolate pretzels. Is it toxic? What to do?

Updated On September 23rd, 2025

Pet's info: Dog | Mixed Breed Small (up to 22lb) | Female | unspayed | 1 year and 8 months old | 6 lbs

My dog age some milk chocolate covered pretzels. The bag was 7oz and she weighs 6-7lbs. She ate about a fourth of the bag and that was an hour ago. She seems ok right now but should I be concerned?

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2 Answers

Most Helpful Answer

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Answered By Dr. Melanie, BVSc MS

Veterinarian

Published on March 26th, 2018

Oh no, that's not good that Ginger at the pretzels! If she ate a fourth of a 7oz bag, she consumed probably around 1.75oz. For safety reasons, we will assume the chocolate weights 1.75oz, although in reality it's likely a lot less. At her weight, it would at most cause a mild reaction in that you could see vomiting, diarrhea, elevated heart rate, and shaking. More than likely, she did not consume enough chocolate for you to see any reaction, and she will be fine. If you do see any GI signs, I can give you a home remedy to try to see if that helps. Withhold food for 12-24 hours, then feed a bland diet of boiled white meat chicken (no bones) and white rice in small amounts several times a day for a couple of days. Then slowly add back in her normal diet. It can take up to 24 hours for signs of chocolate toxicity to show, so I would monitor her for the next day. I hope this helps, best of luck!

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    Answered By Jennifer Summerfield, DVM CPDT-KA

    Veterinarian, Certified Dog Trainer

    Published on December 20th, 2016

    There would be very little actual chocolate content in 4 oz of chocolate-covered pretzels - and especially with milk chocolate, the amount of cocoa would be lower still. In my experience, I would not expect this to cause any serious issues at all - there should be no need to induce vomiting. You might see some mild GI upset if your dog isn't used to eating "people food" like this, but otherwise she should be just fine :)

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