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Friday, Mar 29th

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Dogs, chocolate don’t mix

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Christmas is a time for family.  A time to relax and enjoy friends and often overeat the sweet stuff.  But be careful with chocolates and brownies around your dogs.  They love chocolate and can’t get enough - given the opportunity of an unguarded box of chocolates under the tree.  Remember they can smell right past the plastic wrapper.

Chocolate, coffee and caffeine all contain substances called theobromine.  When ingested by pets they can cause vomiting and diarrhea, panting, excessive thirst and urination, hyperactivity, abnormal heart rhythm, tremors, seizures and even death.

Note that darker chocolate is more dangerous than milk chocolate, while white chocolate is the least dangerous. It’s just best not to feed dogs any chocolate at all.  Cats are different.

Chocolate is just as toxic for cats, but they don’t seem to go for chocolate the way dogs do.

Calls to the Association for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, ASPCA, Animal Control Center [hotline # 888-426-4435] surge in December of each year.

By Mike Daly
Guest Columnist

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