How chocolate toxicity calculator works
Chocolate is toxic to dogs and cats because of theobromine, a caffeine-like compound that pets metabolise far more slowly than humans do. The danger depends on three things: the type of chocolate (the darker and more processed, the more theobromine), the amount eaten, and the pet's body weight. The calculator multiplies the amount by the standard published theobromine content — milk chocolate about 2 mg/g, dark or semi-sweet about 5.5 mg/g, unsweetened baking chocolate about 14 mg/g, cocoa powder about 26 mg/g and white chocolate a negligible 0.25 mg/g — then divides by body weight to get a dose in mg/kg.
The dose lands in one of four published risk bands: below 15 mg/kg is generally low risk; 15–39 mg/kg can cause vomiting, diarrhea and restlessness; 40–59 mg/kg risks heart-rhythm problems; and 60 mg/kg and above can cause seizures and is potentially life-threatening. The band always comes with the same instruction — call your vet or a pet poison helpline now — because treatment in the first one to two hours, before symptoms start, is dramatically more effective.
Enter the pet's weight in kg or lb and the amount eaten in grams or ounces, and the tool also shows the total theobromine swallowed and roughly how much of that chocolate it would take to reach the moderate band. This is a screening estimate built on reference tables, not a diagnosis: only your vet, who knows your pet's health history, can make treatment decisions.