Why Cats Cant Eat Chocolate

As you're sitting down for dinner, the last thing on your mind is your cat sneaking off into the other room to steal a little bit of chocolate sitting beside your bedside. If it does happen, don't panic.  

In this article, were going to explain why it's dangerous to give your cat chocolate and the simplest way to treat your cat after eating it.  

There are several reasons that chocolate is toxic to cats. Firstly, it's the high fat content and the sugar rush that can lead to symptoms like; 

• Pancreatitis 

• Diarrhea 

• Abdominal pain 

• Vomiting 

• Can potentially cause death.  

Main concerns  

The real reason that we are most concerned about chocolate is because it contains methylxanthines. This is theobromine and caffeine. They basically have the same effects, but theobromine lasts for much longer than caffeine does.  

Treatment and precaution  

1. Keep it out of reach.  

Don't underestimate their ability to reach places. It needs to be somewhere secure as well as out of reach. Preferably in a pantry that they can't open. If you've got a cat clever enough to open the pantry, make sure it's in a cupboard up high enough that they can't reach. Or in something as simple as a sealed container that they can't get in to. 

1. Train Visitors 

You also need to make sure you train visitors and kids to keep their chocolate safe. While you might be schooled up on it, not everybody who visits will be and cats can be super quick.  

1. Make Them Vomit 

If you know it's happened within the last four hours, then the simplest way to treat chocolate toxicity is to make them vomit. The first thing to expect is a symptom of chocolate toxicity, which is vomiting. But by making them vomit within that first four hours, you'll have a reasonable chance of making them bring up a significant amount of the chocolate and limiting the effects and the absorption of those methylxanthines, theobromine and caffeine.  

1. What type of chocolate.  

If it's white chocolate, then potentially it's just the high fat content and will not cause issues because there are no methylxanthines in white chocolate. But if you're talking baking chocolate or bittersweet chocolate or the super dark chocolate then a very small amount could have quite a significant impact. 

1. Chocolate calculator  

Once you know how much and what type of chocolate, the next thing I'd recommend is going online and just Google a chocolate calculator. What you can do then is put in those details. How much chocolate? What's the weight of your cat? And hopefully you'll get some idea.  

Call on your vet If you don't have access to the internet. They've usually got access to a chocolate calculator and give you advice as to whether treatment is needed or not.  

 Treatment in severe cases  

Sometimes if it's getting towards the end of that four hours, then decontamination procedure will be taken. They may need to go on IV fluids to help try and absorb those methylxanthines and prevent them being taken up by the body and potentially having those side effects.