We live in Portland, Oregon. About 30 mi
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We live in Portland, Oregon. About 30 minutes ago, our 15 lb (approx 7 kg) adult miniature Dachshund jumped on the coffee table and ate 2 squares (roughly 1 oz / 28 grams) of 85% dark Baker's unsweetened baking chocolate.
He currently looks normal and has no symptoms yet, but I know dark baking chocolate has very high theobromine levels.
A neighbor told us to give him 3% hydrogen peroxide down his throat right now to make him throw up.
Can you guide us on:
1. Is this an emergency vet visit right now, or can we wait and see if symptoms start?
2. What must we NEVE do at home (specifically regarding inducing vomiting / hydrogen peroxide)?
3. What should we do right now en route to the clinic and what should we bring?
4. State your boundaries (no home-safe dose calculations, vet decides medical decontamination).
Answer
I'll work through this properly — exposure first, then the cards.
Good — US hotline hit returned, chocolate matches PPH. Now I need the chocolate toxin card and the dog toxin page.
I have what I need. Let me check the validate script, then draft and run the linter.
Let me check the source manifest for the source_ids I'll use, then draft.
Now I'll write the draft and run the gate.
Two BLOCKs and a WAN to fix. Let me repair the draft.
Gate exit 0, status PASS. Let me read the final draft and send.
Go to an emergency veterinary clinic right now. For a 7 kg dog, 28 g (about 1 oz) of 85% unsweetened Baker's chocolate is a serious amount. Chocolate signs in dogs (vomiting, restlessness, abnormal heart rate, tremors, seizures) usually take 6–12 hours to appear and can last up to 72 hours, so "he looks normal right now" is not a verdict. The toxin is still being absorbed.
| Now | Do not |
| --- | --- |
| Drive to the closest 24-hour emergency vet | Induce vomiting at home |
| Call the clinic or one of the animal poison hotlines below while you drive | Give 3% hydrogen peroxide, ipecac, salt, or any home emetic |
| Bring the wrapper, the time, his weight, his age | Wait for symptoms before leaving |
Why "wait and see" does not work here: baking chocolate is one of the highest-theobromine forms a dog can reach on a kitchen counter. A 7 kg dog eating 28 g of it lands in the band where cardiac and nervous-system signs become possible, and the onset window sits hours behind the moment he ate it.
## Now and en route
- Call while you drive. Tell them: 7 kg adult Dachshund, 28 g of 85% unsweetened Baker's chocolate, about 30 minutes ago, no symptoms yet.
- Keep him calm and contained. A small carrier or a passenger-seat blanket is fine. Keep the car cool and quiet.
- Bring: the Baker's chocolate wrapper or the rest of the bar; the time he ate it; his weight (15 lb / 7 kg); his age; any medications or health conditions he has.
- If he starts trembling, panting hard, vomiting, or collapses on the way, tell the clinic you are 1–2 minutes out so they can be ready.
## What the vet (or hotline) decides, not you
- Whether to induce emesis, and with which drug and timing. Veterinary emesis in dogs is a controlled act, not a kitchen remedy. A home attempt with 3% hydrogen peroxide is not the same procedure and can irritate or burn the mouth and esophagus.
- Whether to give activated charcoal, monitor heart rhythm, or run bloodwork.
- How long to keep him for observation.
## US animal poison hotlines (this turn's closed table)
A vet (or one of these hotlines) is the one who decides on decontamination. Both lines are 24/7 and answer pet exposures for a fee.
- ASPCA Animal Poison Control Center — 1-888-426-4435 (consultation fee may apply).
- Pet Poison Helpline — 1-855-764-7661 (per-incident fee applies).
## My boundaries
- I am not a veterinarian; this is not a diagnosis. The vet — or one of the hotlines above — is who decides on decontamination and treatment.
- I do not give a figure for a "safe" chocolate amount. The toxicology numbers in the sources are risk-band cutoffs, not safe amounts, and none of them let a family decide to stay home.
- I do not invent poison numbers. The two numbers above came from this turn's lookup of the US animal-poison table; if the line had been empty, the answer would have been "local emergency vet first, no printable hotline this turn" instead.