Wednesday, January 21, 2015

I really thought that I was safe from chocolate calls for the season, but apparently that is not the case as I got one last week and another one today.  Then I started thinking, well, Valentine's Day is next month, then there are Easter Bunnies and Cadbury Eggs.  I guess that the chocolate danger season is spreading into a year round problem for our pets. (and my waist)


Delectable I know, but in excess, not good for us or our dogs. Now I understand everyone's temptation, and even for dogs, a small amount of chocolate is not going to cause a major health problem. (not that I am recommending chocolate for canines, don't get me wrong.

So what is the problem with chocolate?  The most serious problems are caused by a group of chemicals called methylxanthines.



There they are.  Diagrams like this give me nightmares going all the way back to my undergraduate days of organic chemistry.  The take home message here is not the double nitrogen/carbon ring structure with a combination of double bonds and methyl groups hanging off of them.  Rather, just picture a child after a couple of cups of espresso.  This group of chemicals are stimulants and can cause a variety of clinical signs ranging from mild hyper-excitability (think a doppio from Starbucks), to more severe agitation (extra shot of espresso into your grande latte), through cardiac arrythmias and then seizures. 

Not all chocolates have the same amount of methylxanthines.  Milk chocolate has the least (63 mg/oz), then dark chocolate, followed by baking chocolate (450 mg/oz) Dry Cocoa Powder (807 mg/oz).  Even cocoa beans and shell mulch can be problematic.  

As little as 20 mg/kg of methylxanthines will cause mild signs in a dog.  Moderate to severe signs start at 40 mg/kg and heart arrythmias can start at 50mg/kg.  

Don't start going crazy with math.  As they say, there is an app for that.  Here's the link for the app that I carry on my I phone. It's what I use when you call me in the office.  You can download it, I think it used to be free.

Now, even if your dog has eaten a safe amount of chocolate, there can still be a problem.  Smaller, non lethal doses of chocolate can cause severe GI UPSET.  (read diarrhea).  This is usually a function of the fat and sugar content.  Also, dogs that are prone to pancreatitis can have that condition aggravated by high cocoa butter content confections.

The thing to keep in mind is that the actual chocolate is the really dangerous thing.  Chocolate cupcake, while delicious, have only a small amount of chocolate.  Today's phone call was for a dog that got into a box of Russel Stover's type candies.  They are filled, and while the dog had a horrible case of the canine trots, these are filled with all sorts of stuff and contain very little chocolate.

Of course, I read recently that demand for cocoa is outstripping world wide production, so this problem might take care of itself in the foreseeable future.  What a horrible shame.

Until then.  Keep your candies to yourself and your dogs will thank you for it. 



Sunday, January 11, 2015

So, I was sitting on the couch after an abbreviated walk on the frozen tundra of the boardwalk in Long Beach and I decided I would surf the net for a while. Not surprising as this is one of my favorite ways to waste time.

I was shocked by a few things that I found. The first was an old blog really old blog, that it had last posted to about 4 years ago.  Much to my chagrin, I could not access it and it took the better part of an hour to figure out that I would never be able to. So, here is the link.

The second shock was how difficult it was to establish a new blog. I think I have succeeded but we'll have to see how this turns out. The content is my responsibility, the format is Google's.  Speaking of Google, what the heck is up with Google +?  I think that I was able to establish a page for each of our three practices, but once again, only time will tell.

Not one for New Year's resolutions, I figured I would fall into the trap for 2015 and resolve to resurrect my blog in this format. However, before investing too much time and effort with content, I want to see how the mechanics of this platform will work. It would also be nice to know that I can get someone to read it.

Having said that, this is sort of a test.  I'll set the blog up, play with the platform, try to let people know where it is, and gradually add content.  Oh, and pictures. I'll try to post pictures and make the whole thing look good as well.


Brief post script. I tried to post a picture from my I pad and Blogger gave me a bunch of options that made no sense to me. Then I panicked because I thought the post had disappeared. I have to say that I am less than optimistic that this old dog can learn a new trick.  Stay tuned.