{"topic_id":"pet_tox_chocolate_theobromine_thresholds","category":"pet-toxicology","context":"---\ntopic_id: pet_tox_chocolate_theobromine_thresholds\ncategory: pet-toxicology\ntitle: \"Pet acute-toxicity thresholds — Chocolate / theobromine (methylxanthine concentrations by product + clinical effect doses in dogs)\"\nlang: en\nsource: \"Some food toxic for pets (peer-reviewed review, PMC2984110, Tavily server-side extract 2026-07-21)\"\nsource_file: pdf-raw/pmc-pet-food-toxic-pmc2984110.txt\ndate_parsed: 2026-07-21\ntokens_estimated: 420\nverification:\n  method: substring_match\n  claims: 6\n  passed: 6\n  date: 2026-07-21\nsource_document: \"ASPCA / pet toxicology reference\"\ncitation:\n  authority: \"Some food toxic for pets\"\n  title: \"Pet acute-toxicity thresholds — Chocolate / theobromine (methylxanthine concentrations by product + clinical effect doses in dogs)\"\n  url: \"https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC2984110/\"\n  retrieved: \"2026-07-21\"\n  ref: \"\"\n  doc_type: \"official PDF\"\n  needs_review: true\nlicense: cc_by\nauthority_tier: T2\nauthority_tier_basis: \"T2:oa-journal\"\nauthority_tier_date: 2026-08-04\n---\n\nChocolate toxicity in dogs is driven by **methylxanthines** — primarily **theobromine** (3,7-dimethylxanthine) and caffeine. The toxic principles come from *Theobroma cacao*. The table below gives methylxanthine concentration by product (verbatim from source):\n\n| Product | Methylxanthine |\n|---|---|\n| dry cocoa powder | 28.5 mg/g |\n| unsweetened (baker's) chocolate | 16 mg/g |\n| milk chocolate | 2.3 mg/g |\n\nWhite chocolate is \"an insignificant source of methylxanthines.\"\n\n## Clinical effect doses (theobromine, dogs)\n\n- \"(vomiting, diarrhoea, polydipsia) may be seen in dogs ingesting 20 mg/kg\" of theobromine.\n- \"cardiotoxic effects may be seen at 40–50 mg/kg, and seizures may occur at doses ≥60 mg/kg\"\n- \"approximately 1.3 g/kg b.wt. of baker's chocolate is sufficient to cause symptoms of toxicity\" (baker's chocolate ≈16 mg/g theobromine → ~80 mg/kg theobromine).\n- \"A 10-kilogram dog can be seriously affected if it eats a quarter of a 250 g packet of cocoa powder or half of a 250 g block of cooking chocolate.\"\n\nDose guidance scales with theobromine content: a dog needs to eat >250 g of milk chocolate to be affected, but far less cocoa powder / baker's chocolate.\n\nSource: `pdf-raw/pmc-pet-food-toxic-pmc2984110.txt` — first-hand peer-reviewed review \"Some food toxic for pets\" (PMC2984110, https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2984110/), Tavily server-side extract 2026-07-21.\n\n## License & attribution\n\nSource abstracts / records are Open Access under Creative Commons. Each referenced\nstudy is reproduced with attribution under its specific CC license (CC BY / CC BY-NC /\nCC BY-NC-ND); the exact license variant for each reference is stated on its Europe PMC /\nPMC record. Original records:\n- https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2984110/\n","sources":["Some food toxic for pets — Pet acute-toxicity thresholds — Chocolate / theobromine (methylxanthine concentrations by product + clinical effect doses in dogs) (retrieved 2026-07-21)"],"source":{"authority":"Some food toxic for pets","title":"Pet acute-toxicity thresholds — Chocolate / theobromine (methylxanthine concentrations by product + clinical effect doses in dogs)","url":"https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC2984110/","retrieved":"2026-07-21","ref":"","doc_type":"official PDF","source_document":"ASPCA / pet toxicology reference","verification_file":"pdf-raw/pmc-pet-food-toxic-pmc2984110.txt"},"source_document":"ASPCA / pet toxicology reference","source_file":"pdf-raw/pmc-pet-food-toxic-pmc2984110.txt","trust":{"authority_tier":"T2","fidelity":"verbatim","license":"cc_by","display_grade":"A"},"tokens_estimated":420,"generated_at":null,"tip":"Use /api/v1/topics to discover more topics. /api/v1/nutrient for precise single-point queries. /api/v1/cross_compare for 2-3 standard comparisons."}