Chocolate is made from cocoa beans, which is sweet and delicious, and is a delicacy that people love.
Can cats eat chocolate?
Cats are not allowed to eat chocolate. Chocolate is rich in caffeine and theobromine, which can reduce the metabolic function of cats, resulting in liver detoxification dysfunction and causing poisoning.
Theobromine has a great impact on the digestive system, cardiovascular system and central nervous system of cats, which will affect the synaptic conduction function of cats, resulting in symptoms such as convulsions, muscle spasms, and rigidity in cats.
Why do cats eat chocolate poisoning?
Chocolate foods contain some theobromine and caffeine ingredients, among which theobromine contains methylxanthin, which can lead to cat poisoning.
The reason why cats can't eat chocolate is because the enzyme metabolism of theobromine in cats is lower than that of humans. At present, there is no antidote to such poisoning, and it can only be used to induce vomiting, gastric lavage and other ways to reduce the absorption of theobromine in the cat's stomach.
In addition, tea and coffee and food or drinks containing these two ingredients should not be eaten by cats, because the theophylline in tea and the caffeine in coffee also contain the ingredient of methyl xanthine, which can also cause poisoning in cats. Chocolate also contains high sugar and caffeine, which can also cause cat poisoning.
Therefore, after the cat mistakenly eats chocolate, the owner must pay close attention to the situation of the cat, contact the hospital in the first time, and prepare for emergency treatment to avoid irreparable consequences.
Cats eat chocolate symptoms
If the cat consumes more chocolate, it will affect the nervous system and appear neurological symptoms. Toxicity can manifest as muscle twitches, drooling, rapid heartbeat, high blood pressure, hyperexcitation, stiff limbs, and may even lead to death in cats.
If the amount of chocolate eaten by the cat is not very large, it may only be mild theobromine poisoning phenomenon, which is manifested by depression, lack of appetite, vomiting, diarrhea, increased urination, etc.
Therefore, usually the owner should put away chocolate and cocoa, coffee, tea and other items containing alkaloids to prevent cats from eating by mistake.
How much chocolate a cat eats can be fatal
Eating chocolate may cause the death of cats the original culprit is the theobromine component in chocolate, cats generally consume one hundred to two hundred milligrams of theobromine per kilogram will cause poisoning, cats after eating chocolate is mainly manifested as trembling, shortness of breath, weakness and epilepsy, etc. If you overeat, the cat will convulse or even coma, arrhythmia, and eventually lead to heart failure and death.
In general, cats will have symptoms after eating chocolate products for a few hours, and they may die within 1-2 days in severe illness. The purer the chocolate, the more it can not be touched by cats, and now most of the chocolate is cocoa butter, the composition of theobromine is relatively small, not easy to cause poisoning.
Precautions for chocolate poisoning in cats
When the cat mistakenly eats chocolate if the owner finds it in time, the cat can do the emetic treatment as soon as possible within half an hour of eating the chocolate, if the discovery is not timely, the cat has symptoms and needs to seek medical treatment as soon as possible.
Because each cat has a different weight and physical condition, and the content of theobromine in different chocolates is also different, it is difficult to have a clear quantification of how much chocolate the cat will be poisoned by eating.
Therefore, the safest thing to do is to resolutely do not let cats eat chocolate, as well as foods containing chocolate ingredients, such as coffee, chocolate candy, etc., and do not feed cats foods with high sugar content.