Theobromine poisoning

Theobromine poisoning or chocolate poisoning is an adverse reaction to the alkaloidtheobromine, found in chocolate, tea, colabeverages, and some other foods. Cacao beanscontain about 1.2% theobromine by weight, while processed chocolate generally has smaller amounts. The amount found in highly refined chocolate candies (typically 40-60 milligramsper ounce) is much lower than that of dark chocolate or unsweetened baker's chocolate (over 400mg/oz).

The amount of theobromine found in chocolate is small enough that chocolate can be safely consumed by humansin large quantities, but animals that metabolizetheobromine more slowly can easily consume enough chocolate to cause chocolate poisoning. The most common victims of theobromine poisoning are dogs(for which it can be fatal). Catsand especially kittensare yet more sensitive, and many other animals are also susceptible.

The first signs of theobromine poisoning are nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, and increased urination. These can progress to cardiac arrhythmias, epileptic seizures, internal bleeding, heart attacks, and eventually death.

Theobromine is especially toxic to horses, dogs, parrots, voles, and catsbecause they are unable to metabolizethe chemical effectively. If they are fed chocolate, the theobromine will remain in their bloodstreamfor up to 20 hours. Medical treatment involves inducing vomiting within two hours of ingestion, or contacting a veterinarian.

A typical 20 kg dog will normally experience intestinal distress after eating less than 240 g of milk chocolate, but won't necessarily experience bradycardiaor tachyarrythmiaunless it eats at least a half a kilogram of milk chocolate. If it does not expel the chocolate from its system because of the fat and sugar content, then it would have a 50% chance of surviving after eating 5 kilograms. According to the Merck Veterinary Manual, approximately 1.3 g of baker's chocolate per kilogram of a dog's body weight (0.02 oz/lb) is sufficient to cause symptoms of toxicity. For example, a typical 25 gram baker's chocolate bar would be enough to bring out symptoms in a 20 kg dog.

References

• National Library of Medicine, Theobromine. (September 9, 2004)
• Merck & Co., Inc., Chocolate Poisoning: Introduction. (June 16, 2005)

External links

• A Pet Owner's Guide to Poisons: Chocolate

This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License.
It uses material from the http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theobromine+poisoning Wikipedia article Theobromine poisoning.