Im not expecting a whole lot of answers as good dog/pet owners dont feed their dogs chocolate but if there are any bad dog owners on this board ...........

would you happen to have experienced a diuresis effect after your dog has ingested a large amount of either regular milk chocolate or the bakers chocolate ?

over the past 3 weeks thunder has eaten an advent calendar thingy of 25 pieces of chocolate and more recently eaten an unknown amount of bakers chocolate. it wasnt until after the bakers chocolate incident that i realized the enormous amount of urine after both chocolate eating episodes. i swear, no exaggeration, he must have peed 3/4 or more of a gallon of urine after ingesting bakers chocolate. i then thought back and realized that after he had eaten the whole calendar of chocolate, he had urinated an excessive amount.

no excessive water drinking followed either event , so i wondered whether it was directly related to the chocolate itself. his partner in crime, scout, didnt urinate after the bakers chocolate incident so i am assuming she ate very little to none of it and that thunder consumed the majority of it.

scout -- Looks like you are right.

The first symptoms of chocolate poisoning in dogs include nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, and increased urination. These symptoms will occur 2 to 4 hours after intake, and chocolate in the vomit may be obvious. Excessive urination may result from the diuretic (water clearing) action of the chocolate.
http://www.squidoo.com/dogschocolate

awesome, thanks for finding that. thankfully the only side effect of his eating all that chocolate was the amount of urine he produced and his being more of a spaz/hyper than usual.

I would contact your vet, as bakers chocolate is 10-times more toxic than milk chocolate. They may need to treat him.

Hope everything will be okay.

If you induce vomiting, within four hours of ingestion, that's always good.

We've all heard it, "Don't give your dog chocolate it will kill him". We'll how true is it you're probably wondering. Do I have to rush him to an emergency vet if he ate one of my M&M's?

The truth is chocolate contains theobromine that is toxic to dogs in sufficient quantities. This is a xanthine compound in the same family of caffeine, and theophylline.

Toxic Levels

The good news is that it takes, on average, a fairly large amount of theobromine 100-150 mg/kg to cause a toxic reaction. Although there are variables to consider like the individual sensitivity, animal size and chocolate concentration.

On average,
Milk chocolate contains 44 mg of theobromine per oz.
Semisweet chocolate contains 150mg/oz.
Baker's chocolate 390mg/oz.

Using a dose of 100 mg/kg as the toxic dose it comes out roughly as:
1 ounce per 1 pound of body weight for Milk chocolate
1 ounce per 3 pounds of body weight for Semisweet chocolate
1 ounce per 9 pounds of body weight for Baker's chocolate.

So, for example, 2 oz. of Baker's chocolate can cause great risk to an 15 lb. dog. Yet, 2 oz. of Milk chocolate usually will only cause digestive problems.

Clinical Signs

Xanthines affect the nervous system, cardiovascular system and peripheral nerves. It has a diuretic effect as well. Clinical signs:

Hyper excitability
Hyper irritability
Increased heart rate
Restlessness
Increased urination
Muscle tremors
Vomiting
Diarrhea

Treatment

There is no specific antidote for this poisoning. And the half life of the toxin is 17.5 hours in dogs. Induce vomiting in the first 1-2 hours if the quantity is unknown. Administering activated charcoal may inhibit absorption of the toxin. An anticonvulsant might be indicated if neurological signs are present and needs to be controlled. Oxygen therapy, intravenous medications, and fluids might be needed to protect the heart.

Milk chocolate will often cause diarrhea 12-24 hours after ingestion. This should be treated symptomatically (fluids, etc..) to prevent dehydration.

If you suspect your pet has ingested chocolate contact your Vet immediately! They can help you determine the the proper treatment for your pet.

http://www.talktothevet.com/ARTICLES/DOGS/chocolatetoxic.HTM

thanks deb but this happened saturday, by now i am sure he is fine. thankfully he didn't vomit, or have diarrhea, he was just a hyper spaz and urinated gallons.

thanks for the additional info windy ....... as per your request i will make this a sticky as this information is good for everyone to know, especially like you said at this time of the year.

Scout, I would imagine the excessive urine output was the body's attempt to excrete the toxin? Totally a guess, but it might be a thought. Glad the pooches are ok, sorry they decided to help with the holiday decorations and baking~

Charted out toxicity levels for all chocolate types per pound in dogs.

http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/ngm/2007-10/chocolate-chart.html

Caffeine (found in chocolate) is a known diuretic. It is metabolized into theobromine (also found in chocolate, as mentioned above), which has a direct effect of inducing diuresis. Thus both the caffeine and theobromine in chocolate will cause diuresis in dogs.

My take on how this works is that theobromine prevents re-absorption of sodium from the urine back into the body (this happens in the kidneys). This results in more sodium in the urine. Because there is a greater sodium concentration in urine than in the body, water leaves the body and goes into the urine via osmosis. Hence, diuresis and more urination. Theobromine seems to exert these effects by preventing the breakdown of a molecule called 3'-5' cyclic adenosine monophosphate (cAMP), by blocking its phosphodiesterase. This results in greater cAMP concentration in kidney cells, which via a stream of events changes the rate of sodium reabsorption in the kidneys.

scout, I agree, it's not likely increased blood sugar because there was no increase in water intake.

If a human was to eat enough chocolate, you would also see diuresis. It would have to be a huge amount, though, because we metabolize theobromine much faster than dogs.

***Edited By: k9trainer on 3/7/2008 12:39:46 PM***
Reason: add

One possible cause of the diuresis may be the amount of caffiene, which is a natural diruetic. One of my Dams has developed a taste for chocolate, so we have to be extra careful and not leave it where she can get at it. She had some partners in crime the second time around. The first time, I immediately called my vet to see what to do. They had me induce vomiting. Syrup of Ipecak works, but I didn't have any on hand. They recommended regular peroxide (not the one for bleaching hair) in 15cc increments until she started vomiting. She is around 7 lb. I don't know if the amount is different for larger dogs. She threw up so much chocolate, that I started the process over to make sure she was clear. She still brought up more. It comes out very frothy. Both times I was out of peroxide, and had to run to neighbors to borrow, but she didn't suffer any organ damage from the chocolate. I HIGHLY recommend toing it outside, as it is very messy!

My Dane stole and ate a 2 lb bag of M and M's. We were terrified! Soemhow she had no ill effects. I think she shared with the other danes. The problem is the stimulant effect of chocolate and dark chocolate or bakers chocolate is the worse. Dogs can go into heart failure from the stimulant effect. If your dog is coming out of it with no ill effects you have learned a good lesson. Dogs can get the darnest things. With great danes we check the counters frequesntly for things that can hurt. We can tell they surf the counter by the smears at the edge. nurse