scishow
Why Can't Dogs Eat Chocolate?
YouTube: | https://youtube.com/watch?v=K6Ptlaxuuy0 |
Previous: | Why Does Getting Kicked in the Groin Hurt SO Much? |
Next: | Studying the Solar Eclipse: SciShow Talk Show |
Categories
Statistics
View count: | 813,209 |
Likes: | 18,898 |
Comments: | 2,864 |
Duration: | 03:22 |
Uploaded: | 2017-08-15 |
Last sync: | 2024-11-29 18:00 |
Citation
Citation formatting is not guaranteed to be accurate. | |
MLA Full: | "Why Can't Dogs Eat Chocolate?" YouTube, uploaded by SciShow, 15 August 2017, www.youtube.com/watch?v=K6Ptlaxuuy0. |
MLA Inline: | (SciShow, 2017) |
APA Full: | SciShow. (2017, August 15). Why Can't Dogs Eat Chocolate? [Video]. YouTube. https://youtube.com/watch?v=K6Ptlaxuuy0 |
APA Inline: | (SciShow, 2017) |
Chicago Full: |
SciShow, "Why Can't Dogs Eat Chocolate?", August 15, 2017, YouTube, 03:22, https://youtube.com/watch?v=K6Ptlaxuuy0. |
It’s hard to say 'no' to puppy eyes, so here’s some information you can share with your pets next time you unwrap that chocolate bar
Hosted by: Olivia Gordon
----------
Support SciShow by becoming a patron on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/scishow
----------
Dooblydoo thanks go to the following Patreon supporters: Kevin Bealer, Mark Terrio-Cameron, KatieMarie Magnone, Patrick Merrithew, D.A. Noe, Charles Southerland, Fatima Iqbal, Sultan Alkhulaifi, Nicholas Smith, Tim Curwick, Alexander Wadsworth, Scott Satovsky Jr, Philippe von Bergen, Bella Nash, Chris Peters, Patrick D. Ashmore, Piya Shedden, Charles George
----------
Looking for SciShow elsewhere on the internet?
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/scishow
Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/scishow
Tumblr: http://scishow.tumblr.com
Instagram: http://instagram.com/thescishow
----------
Sources:
https://www.degruyter.com/downloadpdf/j/intox.2009.2.issue-3/v10102-009-0012-4/v10102-009-0012-4.pdf
http://www.petmd.com/dog/chocolate-toxicity
https://www.apsnet.org/edcenter/intropp/topics/Pages/OverviewOfPlantDiseases.aspx
https://toxnet.nlm.nih.gov/cgi-bin/sis/search/a?dbs+hsdb:@term+@DOCNO+7332
https://www.wired.com/2013/02/the-poisonous-nature-of-chocolate/
http://kb.rspca.org.au/why-is-chocolate-toxic-to-dogs-and-other-pets_476.html
https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/strange-but-true-cats-cannot-taste-sweets/
https://www.britannica.com/science/alkaloid
http://www.epharmacognosy.com/2012/07/introduction-of-alkaloids.html
https://www.britannica.com/science/nicotine
http://www.chem.ucla.edu/~harding/IGOC/A/alkaloid.html
https://scienceandfooducla.wordpress.com/2015/09/29/caffeine-vs-chocolate-a-mighty-methyl-group/
Hosted by: Olivia Gordon
----------
Support SciShow by becoming a patron on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/scishow
----------
Dooblydoo thanks go to the following Patreon supporters: Kevin Bealer, Mark Terrio-Cameron, KatieMarie Magnone, Patrick Merrithew, D.A. Noe, Charles Southerland, Fatima Iqbal, Sultan Alkhulaifi, Nicholas Smith, Tim Curwick, Alexander Wadsworth, Scott Satovsky Jr, Philippe von Bergen, Bella Nash, Chris Peters, Patrick D. Ashmore, Piya Shedden, Charles George
----------
Looking for SciShow elsewhere on the internet?
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/scishow
Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/scishow
Tumblr: http://scishow.tumblr.com
Instagram: http://instagram.com/thescishow
----------
Sources:
https://www.degruyter.com/downloadpdf/j/intox.2009.2.issue-3/v10102-009-0012-4/v10102-009-0012-4.pdf
http://www.petmd.com/dog/chocolate-toxicity
https://www.apsnet.org/edcenter/intropp/topics/Pages/OverviewOfPlantDiseases.aspx
https://toxnet.nlm.nih.gov/cgi-bin/sis/search/a?dbs+hsdb:@term+@DOCNO+7332
https://www.wired.com/2013/02/the-poisonous-nature-of-chocolate/
http://kb.rspca.org.au/why-is-chocolate-toxic-to-dogs-and-other-pets_476.html
https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/strange-but-true-cats-cannot-taste-sweets/
https://www.britannica.com/science/alkaloid
http://www.epharmacognosy.com/2012/07/introduction-of-alkaloids.html
https://www.britannica.com/science/nicotine
http://www.chem.ucla.edu/~harding/IGOC/A/alkaloid.html
https://scienceandfooducla.wordpress.com/2015/09/29/caffeine-vs-chocolate-a-mighty-methyl-group/
If you have a dog you've probably heard that chocolate will make your pet sick, and that also applies to other pets like cats, rats, and mice. but that just doesn't seem fair.
Why do we get to go to town on a giant bar of dark chocolate but Fido shouldn't even have one bite? It all has to do with a molecule called theobromine which is made up of carbon, hydrogen, nitrogen and oxygen atoms.
And along with its partner caffeine, is one of the many reasons humans have loved chocolate for thousands of years. Both molecules are dangerous for dogs but chocolate contains a lot more theobromine than it does caffeine so it's the molecule to watch out for. Like caffeine, theobromine is a type of alkaloid, which is a huge class of molecules that generally contain rings with at least one nitrogen atom in them, and alkaloids often have physiological effects on humans and other animals.
Also like caffeine, theobromine makes our heart pump faster, our blood vessels dilate, and some of our muscles get more energy, which sounds great! But, too much of it can make our hearts pump too quickly and our muscles contract uncontrollably, eventually leading to nausea, convulsions, heart attack, and even death. Luckily for our taste buds, we humans process theobromine pretty quickly, so that's not something you have to worry about.
It rarely sticks around long enough to cause any harm. But, our pets aren't so lucky. They process theobromine a lot more slowly, so it can easily build up and cause those dangerous effects.
It's hard to know exactly why we evolved to be better at digesting theobromine, but it might be because alkaloids mostly come from plants, and our ancestors ate a lot more plants than early cats or dogs did. Whatever the reason, the same amount of theobromine stays in pets' bodies much longer, giving it more time to pile up and cause harm. On top of that, most pets are a lot lighter than humans, so it really doesn't take much chocolate to make them sick.
Cats don't often get poisoned from chocolate because they can't taste sweet things, so they're generally not too interested in it, But, dogs sure are. Your average adult human would need to eat about 8 kilograms of dark chocolate to get a lethal dose of theobromine. But, a medium-sized dog would only need to eat about one kilogram, and a house cat would only need a tenth of a kilogram.
Sweeter chocolates have less theobromine, so the lethal dose is higher; about 5 kilograms of milk chocolate for dogs and about a third of a kilogram for cats, but they'd be sick long before eating that much. Meanwhile, you and I will have to eat about half of our body weight in milk chocolate for a lethal dose, which might sound wonderful, but I don't want to see any of you writing "challenge accepted" in the comments, because you'd be very sick way before finishing that much chocolate. Among other things, I'm trying very hard not to picture what that would do to your digestive system But the next time to indulge in a chocolate bar, or three, just keep it to yourself, no matter how long your dog gives you those adorable puppy eyes.
Thanks for asking, and a special thanks to our patrons on Patreon who keep these answers coming. If you'd like to submit questions to be answered, you can go to patreon.com/scishow, and don't forget to go to youtube.com/scishow and subscribe.
Why do we get to go to town on a giant bar of dark chocolate but Fido shouldn't even have one bite? It all has to do with a molecule called theobromine which is made up of carbon, hydrogen, nitrogen and oxygen atoms.
And along with its partner caffeine, is one of the many reasons humans have loved chocolate for thousands of years. Both molecules are dangerous for dogs but chocolate contains a lot more theobromine than it does caffeine so it's the molecule to watch out for. Like caffeine, theobromine is a type of alkaloid, which is a huge class of molecules that generally contain rings with at least one nitrogen atom in them, and alkaloids often have physiological effects on humans and other animals.
Also like caffeine, theobromine makes our heart pump faster, our blood vessels dilate, and some of our muscles get more energy, which sounds great! But, too much of it can make our hearts pump too quickly and our muscles contract uncontrollably, eventually leading to nausea, convulsions, heart attack, and even death. Luckily for our taste buds, we humans process theobromine pretty quickly, so that's not something you have to worry about.
It rarely sticks around long enough to cause any harm. But, our pets aren't so lucky. They process theobromine a lot more slowly, so it can easily build up and cause those dangerous effects.
It's hard to know exactly why we evolved to be better at digesting theobromine, but it might be because alkaloids mostly come from plants, and our ancestors ate a lot more plants than early cats or dogs did. Whatever the reason, the same amount of theobromine stays in pets' bodies much longer, giving it more time to pile up and cause harm. On top of that, most pets are a lot lighter than humans, so it really doesn't take much chocolate to make them sick.
Cats don't often get poisoned from chocolate because they can't taste sweet things, so they're generally not too interested in it, But, dogs sure are. Your average adult human would need to eat about 8 kilograms of dark chocolate to get a lethal dose of theobromine. But, a medium-sized dog would only need to eat about one kilogram, and a house cat would only need a tenth of a kilogram.
Sweeter chocolates have less theobromine, so the lethal dose is higher; about 5 kilograms of milk chocolate for dogs and about a third of a kilogram for cats, but they'd be sick long before eating that much. Meanwhile, you and I will have to eat about half of our body weight in milk chocolate for a lethal dose, which might sound wonderful, but I don't want to see any of you writing "challenge accepted" in the comments, because you'd be very sick way before finishing that much chocolate. Among other things, I'm trying very hard not to picture what that would do to your digestive system But the next time to indulge in a chocolate bar, or three, just keep it to yourself, no matter how long your dog gives you those adorable puppy eyes.
Thanks for asking, and a special thanks to our patrons on Patreon who keep these answers coming. If you'd like to submit questions to be answered, you can go to patreon.com/scishow, and don't forget to go to youtube.com/scishow and subscribe.