Poor doggy...

DarkHououmon · **on:** July 30, 2007, 04:32:12 PM

Cheyenne, my siberian husky, got sick last night. He had gotten a hold of some raw bacon and threw up twice last night, and once this morning. He's been acting really lethargic and hasn't been eating. He has been drinking plenty of water, however.

Thankfully the bacon is out of his system, but he's still acting sick, laying down sleeping most of the day.

Kylie's hoping to take him to the vet soon.

action9000 · **Reply #1 on:** July 30, 2007, 04:48:59 PM

I'm so sorry to hear that. I do wish the best for him. Hopefully this is a sickness that will just go away with time.

DarkHououmon · **Reply #2 on:** July 30, 2007, 04:54:01 PM

Thanks.

landbeforetimelover · **Reply #3 on:** July 30, 2007, 06:06:22 PM

From bacon? Are you sure? If it was the bacon, it probably had some sort of bacteria on it or something. I give my god raw bacon all the time. The vet said it was fine.

DarkHououmon · **Reply #4 on:** July 30, 2007, 06:21:29 PM

Well I actually thought it was the dog food, but mom said she saw him throw up bacon pieces, and said it was the raw bacon that made him sick.

landbeforetimelover · **Reply #5 on:** July 30, 2007, 06:43:08 PM

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she saw him throw up bacon pieces, and said it was the raw bacon that made him sick.

Doubtful. Think about it. Do dogs cook their meet in the wild? Of course not. They can eat raw food. It's natural for them. I feed my dog raw stuff all the time. Are you sure he didn't get hold of some chocolate? That'll make them really sick. Anyways, if ya don't wanna take him to the vet, my vet said that if it was just something they ate, feed them lots of bread and it'll get better quick. Something about the bread absorbing whatever the harmful thing was and having them just...uhhhh...there's no polite way to say this but, just crap it out.

DarkHououmon · **Reply #6 on:** July 30, 2007, 07:23:43 PM

We had no chocolate around the house at the time, and I have given him bits of chocolate (very small amounts) and it didn't make him sick.

Well it's true animals like wolves eat raw meat, but a domestic dog is used to dogfood or cooked food. A domestic dog doesn't eat raw meat that often, as far as I know.

Although Cheyenne has eaten a rat or two and didn't get sick from that. Mom thinks there was probably some bacteria on it that didn't agree with his stomach. I've seen him eat raw bacon before and didn't get sick from that.

landbeforetimelover · **Reply #7 on:** July 30, 2007, 07:48:19 PM

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Mom thinks there was probably some bacteria on it that didn't agree with his stomach

Just what I was saying. There's no way that raw meet alone would make him sick. There had to be something on it or in it that was harmful. Feed him full of bread. And the chocolate thing, read it anywhere, chocolate is poison to dogs. NEVER give it to them.

DarkHououmon · **Reply #8 on:** July 30, 2007, 08:05:32 PM

Actually chocolate is only harmful to dogs if you give them over the amount they can handle. If they eat a basketful then yes it's harmful, but just a small piece, like the size of an M&M is not enough to hurt a dog Cheyenne's size.

Cheyenne has had bits of chocolate before and never ever got sick from it. So the idea that any amount of chocolate will hurt dogs is not really true. It depends on the type of chocolate (pure chocolate, the bitter kind you use for baking, is the worst because it contains more of the toxins) and how much is consumed, and how big or small the dogs are. Really small amounts once in a while are safe for dogs.

Manny Cav · **Reply #9 on:** July 30, 2007, 08:19:25 PM

Better safe than sorry....

landbeforetimelover · **Reply #10 on:** July 30, 2007, 09:21:15 PM

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Cheyenne has had bits of chocolate before and never ever got sick from it. So the idea that any amount of chocolate will hurt dogs is not really true. It depends on the type of chocolate (pure chocolate, the bitter kind you use for baking, is the worst because it contains more of the toxins) and how much is consumed, and how big or small the dogs are. Really small amounts once in a while are safe for dogs.

Just cuz they're not spewing their guts out doesn't mean that they arn't sick. Didn't you know that a dog can handle a significant amount of pain before they start to react? He probably got a terrible stomach ache each time and you'd never know it. NO AMOUNT of chocolate, no matter how small is good for a dog. Period. There's no denying that.

Petrie. · **Reply #11 on:** July 30, 2007, 10:06:31 PM

I hope for the best, Kacie.

DarkHououmon · **Reply #12 on:** July 30, 2007, 10:32:18 PM

I looked up at some sites myself, and here's what I came up with.

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If a 50-pound dog eats a teaspoonful of milk chocolate, it's not going to cause serious problems. However, if that same dog gorges himself on a two-layer chocolate cake, his stomach will feel more than upset and soon it's likely he'll be vomiting or experiencing diarrhea.

To answer the question "How much is too much" is not simple. The health and age of your dog must be considered. Obviously if your dog is aged and not in top shape, his reaction to a plate of chocolate is going to be different from a young healthy dog of the same weight.

Another fact that must be considered is this: Not all chocolate is the same. Some has a small amount of theobromine; another type has a large amount and still another contains an amount that is somewhere in between. The quantity has a relationship with the weight of your dog. Small dogs can be poisoned, it is easy to understand, from smaller amounts of theobromine than large dogs.

Which chocolate is the safest, relatively speaking? White chocolate. It has the least amount of theobromine: 1 mg per ounce. Far on the other side of the spectrum is baking chocolate, which has a huge 450 mg of theobromine per ounce!

Here are a few other chocolates for you to ponder: hot chocolate, 12 mg of theobromine per ounce; milk chocolate, 60 mg/oz; and up there near baking chocolate: semi-sweet chocolate with 260 mg/oz.

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White chocolate: 200 ounces per pound of body weight. It takes 250 pounds of white chocolate to cause signs of poisoning in a 20-pound dog, 125 pounds for a 10-pound dog.
Milk chocolate: 1 ounce per pound of body weight. Approximately one pound of milk chocolate is poisonous to a 20-pound dog; one-half pound for a 10-pound dog. The average chocolate bar contains 2 to 3 ounces of milk chocolate. It would take 2-3 candy bars to poison a 10 pound dog. Semi-sweet chocolate has a similar toxic level.
Sweet cocoa: 0.3 ounces per pound of body weight. One-third of a pound of sweet cocoa is toxic to a 20-pound dog; 1/6 pound for a 10-pound dog.
Baking chocolate: 0.1 ounce per pound body weight. Two one-ounce squares of bakers' chocolate is toxic to a 20-pound dog; one ounce for a 10-pound dog.

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Chocolate - active ingredient = theobromine:
The half life in the dog is 17.5 hours
The Toxic dose in the dog is 100-150 mg/kg.
A kilogram (kg) = 2.2 lbs.
A milligram(mg) = 1/1000 of a gram

So for a 50 ln dog a toxic dose would be roughly 2.2 grams (2200 mg) of pure chocolate.

However the concentration of theobromine varies with the formulation of the chocolate so:
Milk chocolate has 44mg/oz (154mg/100gm): toxic dose for 50 lb dog - 50 oz of milk chocolate.
Semisweet chocolate has 150 mg/oz (528mg/100gm): toxic dose for 50 lb dog - 15 oz of semisweet chocolate
Baking chocolate 390mg/oz (1365 mg/100gm): toxic dose for 50 lb dog - 5 oz of baking chocolate

Thus a dog eating one oz of baking chocolate would have to eat almost 3 oz of semisweet or 10 oz of milk chocolate to get the same dose of theobromine.

So the idea that any amount of chocolate is fatal is incorrect. If giving dogs chocolate harmful everytime, then Cheyenne would have gotten sick many times and he never did. He's my dog, so I would think I would know his behavior by now. And when he's sick, whether he throws up or not, we know about it.

Thanks, Adam. ^^

landbeforetimelover · **Reply #13 on:** July 31, 2007, 12:42:54 AM

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So the idea that any amount of chocolate is fatal is incorrect

I didn't say that giving a dog a little piece of chocolate would kill them, but it's not good for them in any amount. There is NO REACTION at all when a dog gets sick until they get really sick and are in extreme pain. Your dog could be sick and you'd never know it. Their behavior will not change in the slightest unless it gets really bad. I can assure you that your dog felt like crap after eating a little piece of chocolate. Unless it was like a little M&M or something, then he wouldn't feel too bad, but ANY amount is unadvisable according to the vet. It affects the kidney and the digestive processes even if ya fed him an M&M. It will harm your animal no matter what. It's only the degree of harm that will differ.

DarkHououmon · **Reply #14 on:** July 31, 2007, 12:56:16 AM

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Your dog could be sick and you'd never know it.

Look, I know my dog better than you do. If he's sick, I'd know it. Cheyenne acts a certain way when he is not feeling himself. When he's fine, he might sleep sometimes, but he is up and begging for food, whining for attention etc. But when he is sick, he is lethargic, rarely barks, sleeps almost all day long. He always behaves this way when he is not feeling himself.

landbeforetimelover · **Reply #15 on:** July 31, 2007, 01:43:38 AM

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Look, I know my dog better than you do. If he's sick, I'd know it. Cheyenne acts a certain way when he is not feeling himself. When he's fine, he might sleep sometimes, but he is up and begging for food, whining for attention etc. But when he is sick, he is lethargic, rarely barks, sleeps almost all day long. He always behaves this way when he is not feeling himself.

I'm sorry if I offended you. But you're dog will NOT behave any differently unless he is really sick. That's why the vets say bring them in when ya see signs. He'll still do his normal routine. Dogs are survivors. If they show weakness, they get down a notch in the dog world. They try as best they can to show how tough they are. It's natural. You cannot feel you're dog if he's in pain if he shows no sign of pain or discomfort in any way. If he's throwing up and acting sick, that's a really bad thing cuz they only show signs when they're so sick that they have to show the signs and get down a notch in the dog world. Going down is not a place to be in the dog world. Less food, less choice in mates, last place in line to get anything. It is not what any dog would want. In conclusion, unless you can read his mind or can sense his pain through your own body somehow, you would not have known if you had made him sick those times you gave him a little piece of chocolate.

Also, dogs, no matter how domesticated they seem, are still animals that have instincts and desires like any wild animal. There is very little difference between a wild dog and a domestic dog except one isn't afraid of you and one is. No matter how human a dog can seem, they are not in any way like a human and cannot be treated ass such. They cannot complain and they live in a whole different world than we do. Without these wonderful companions, I would be lost. I love dogs and will always want to spend my life with one for the rest of my life.

Petrie. · **Reply #16 on:** July 31, 2007, 06:49:48 AM

Isn't it just wonderful when neither side budges?

: I'd wait for a vetrinary opinion, and go from there. Here's hoping its nothing too serious.

DarkHououmon · **Reply #17 on:** July 31, 2007, 11:21:18 AM

Fine whatever. Believe what you wish. But you do *not* know my dog that all. *I* do, okay? If he's sick I know about it because he *does* act differently when he is sick. You would not know that because you never met him before. I've known him for 8 years now. I know his behavior better than you do. So just leave it at that.

I would take him to the vet but I can't drive. I think Kylie is going to take him today.

landbeforetimelover · **Reply #18 on:** July 31, 2007, 04:53:37 PM

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I would take him to the vet but I can't drive. I think Kylie is going to take him today.

Well, do it quick. Like I said, if he's showing signs of sickness, it must be really bad. I've had my dog for 8 years too. He's a wonderful companion and I'd hate to have you lose yours because of something as stupid as bacon.

DarkHououmon · **Reply #19 on:** July 31, 2007, 05:47:02 PM

Well he appears to be improving today. He's more lively today than he was yesterday, and he has been eating without incident. Gave him a couple of sliced meat since he didn't eat yesterday. But I'll keep an eye on him to be sure.

But whether or not he's still sick, he hasn't been to the vet in years, so yeah I would like to get him to a vet for a check-up, and for any shots he missed. I think the last time he was at the vet's office was when he was.. 4 or 5, and he's around 9 now.