We left a 5lb bag of candy in the pantry yesterday, and forgot to latch the dog proof latch. When we got home a few hours later we had 2-1/2 lbs of candy and some very satisfied looking dogs. Cooper was not even interested in dinner, though Tilly still was. It was a chocolate mix, but really not enough chocolate to be a problem, (based on a conversation with our vet years ago) though I was worried about all the paper wrappers. Cooper was a little out of sorts in the evening, and one of them (probably Cooper) threw up once, but they both seemed to be back to normal this morning. As far as I can see both Tilly and Cooper came through with not problems, but we will have to buy some more candy.
Wow. That's a lot of candy! Glad they are doing ok despite you having the pre-Halloween gore of having to clean up the results. I honestly wonder how much chocolate is really an issue for dogs? A friend's chihuahua accidentally ate a whole Ritter Sport (equivalent of a couple Hershey bars) without so much as a hiccup and another friend regularly feeds her dogs chocolate bonbons as treats. For that second friend, I've told her she's a nut case for doing so, but she points out that her dogs are all healthy and long-lived, which can't be denied. She had a Great Dane who lived to 16 (!) on said diet and her GSD mix is currently 13 and can run circles around nearly anything.
I think bit depends on the quality of the chocolate. high coco solids in quality chocolate are more if a worry.
Years ago, our first Lab, Ginger, ate a 16 oz semi sweet bar. We called the vet and he thought it would probably not be a problem, but he wanted to do some quick research. He suggested that we get her to throw up, which we did (hydrogen peroxide is your friend). He called back in a few minutes and said that at 80 lbs, she could probably eat several lbs of semi sweet without a problem. I know some dogs are more sensitive than others, but we never worry about small quantities of chocolate. I was more worried about the wrappers, and just the total quantity of candy, but both came through just fine.
Simba was left alone with a whole tin of pure cocoa powder which was strewn liberally across the kitchen and living room when hubby returned home a couple hours later (needless to say, I was out of town!) As it was too late to do any kind of vomiting effort we just had to wait and see. He survived just fine except for the fact that he spent the next 12 hours being wired just like a human on twelve cups of coffee...which was interesting to say the least
