Before you give in to your beloved dog’s pleading eyes when he hints he wants a piece of the chocolate bar in your hand and some bones from the food you just ate, heed this warning: chocolate and bones can be harmful to your pet.

Truth be told, chocolate can be fatal to a dog. It depends on the size of the dog, as well as how much chocolate and what type of chocolate he eats. Also, bone splinters could get lodged into your dog’s throat and gastro-intestinal tract.

Chocolate is known to contain theobromine, a bitter, caffeine-related alkaloid. This can come with dangerous effects on the dog that gets to eat chocolate. Your pet may fall victim to a theobromine-caused condition known as chocolate toxicosis. He could die within hours.

On the other hand, it’s a common notion that dogs and bones come hand in hand. However, this is wrong and must be stopped. A bone could severely damage the intestinal tract of your dog, and could become very ill because of this.

When your dog chews on a bone, he may break it into small pieces. For the most part, particularly with pork and chicken bones, they will splinter and your pet could swallow those razor sharp splinters. Then, they could pierce the intestinal wall which may in turn bring about intestinal wall bleeding. In this case, there’s a high probability that part of the undigested bone could get impacted along the intestinal linings, which may bring about blockage in the digestive system of your dog.

Such blockage makes it hard for gases and other material from escaping and may eventually cause blood toxicity. This is particularly prevalent in older dogs since diminished intestinal motility may bring about increased digestive complications.

The safest rule of thumb: never give your dog chocolate and bones.  And chocolate covered bones...don't even think about it.

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Joanna Maligaya

Staff Writer/Content Developer at Chocolate University Online

Ever since she can remember, Joanna has always considered chocolate as the ultimate food for her soul. She believes in the saying, “9 out of 10 people love chocolate, and the 10th always lies.”

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