Cocoa is lethal to cats?

musicteacher

TCS Member
Thread starter
Alpha Cat
Joined
Jul 24, 2005
Messages
312
Purraise
2
My husband says that cocoa is lethal to cats. Is this true? I frequently make pudding at home from the powdered mix, which contains cocoa. Is that dangerous to cats? The powder does tend to make a mess. I'm afraid I might miss a spot.
 

stampit3d

TCS Member
Top Cat
Joined
Sep 5, 2005
Messages
2,864
Purraise
1
Location
Michigan USA
I don`t think you need to worry about a tiny bit. My cats will lick an ice cream bowl that someone has eaten out of with no ill effects...but we don`t actually 'feed" them chocolate.
Linda
 

hissy

TCS Member
Veteran
Joined
Feb 19, 2001
Messages
34,872
Purraise
76
Yes your husband is right, the powdered cocoa, the semisweet and dark chocolates are all toxic to cats. Depending on how much they get into. It is not a good idea to give cats anything that has sugar or chocolate in it.
 

lorelei

TCS Member
Young Cat
Joined
May 31, 2005
Messages
58
Purraise
1
Location
Miami, Florida
It's amazing how they love what they can't eat... well at least that the case with Montgomery. He loves chocolate, wine and beer. Of course, we won't give him anything like that, but everytime we open a bottle of wine he tries to french kiss me after I take a sip. With chocolate, forget it, he begs for it, and we have to hide from him.
 
  • Thread Starter Thread Starter
  • #5

musicteacher

TCS Member
Thread starter
Alpha Cat
Joined
Jul 24, 2005
Messages
312
Purraise
2
Oh wow. I'll be extra carefuly to clean up when I make anything using powdered cocoa.
 

solaritybengals

TCS Member
Top Cat
Joined
Oct 31, 2005
Messages
2,359
Purraise
5
Location
Raleigh, NC
When I got up this morning I walked into the living room to chocolate chip cookies in a heap. They pulled them down from the fridge dragged them in the living room then opened the container and dumped them out.

A little bit is fine. If you see drooling/frothing at the mouth or anything like that then you know shes ingested something too toxic. My kitties are fine this morning so I don't think they got to much.

Other things that are toxic to cats are onions, garlic, cocoa, and pothos plants (ok there are other plants too but this one is common).
 

goldenkitty45

TCS Member
Top Cat
Joined
Aug 29, 2005
Messages
19,900
Purraise
44
Location
SW Minnesota
Chocolate can kill a dog or a cat. The darker the chocolate the more lethel it is. Baker's chocolate is the most lethal. Since a cat is smaller then a dog, it would take less to kill or make them sick.

When baking, I would keep the cats out of the kitchen till you are done and all cleaned up. And also make sure they don't get any of the chocolate in the cookies.

Our lab ate about a half of my brownie when I was not looking (she stole it off the bed) and paid for it with 2 days of diarrah! She's lucky that she didn't get any sicker then that.

If a small dog or cat ate a box of chocolates, they probably would be dead
 

buzbyjlc10

TCS Member
Top Cat
Joined
Jul 14, 2005
Messages
1,981
Purraise
5
Location
State College, PA and Haddon Township, NJ
I try to keep the chocolates away from the pets but my precious black lab at home LOOOOOOVES M&Ms!! My mom will get the holiday colored ones to put out for guests and we have to keep an eye on the dog - every once in awhile we'll give her ONE as a super special treat.... she used to love jelly beans too, but we haven't had any of those around for awhile (since I went to college anyway, haha)
 

semiferal

TCS Member
Top Cat
Joined
Jul 15, 2005
Messages
1,890
Purraise
9
Location
in my apartment
A small amount of chocolate is not harmful. Baker's chocolate or pure cocoa powder would be the most dangerous, but even then they need to ingest a pretty good amount to be harmed.

It's definitely not a good idea to ever let your cat eat chocolate on purpose, but things like chocolate cake, brownies, and ice cream have very little actual chocolate in them for their volume. They'd have to eat a pretty large amount of these to have any problems from the chocolate. They would have an upset tummy from the extra fat and sugar long before that. Milk chocolate is also relatively low in actual chocolate - a dog can eat a bag of Hershey's kisses without toxic effects.

So the answer is that yes, chocolate is toxic to cats. But realistically, it takes either a huge amount of chocolate product or extremely concentrated dark chocolate to cause toxicity.
 
  • Thread Starter Thread Starter
  • #10

musicteacher

TCS Member
Thread starter
Alpha Cat
Joined
Jul 24, 2005
Messages
312
Purraise
2
Hmmm, that must explain why my in-laws' dog didn't get sick after eating half a chocolate cake off their counter. Poor Buster has crossed the rainbow bridge (she was 17) but I always wondered how she managed to avoid being sick from all that chocolate cake.
 

maddy potter

TCS Member
Kitten
Joined
Sep 21, 2016
Messages
1
Purraise
1
how much can cats have before they die?

my cat jumped up on the bench just as i went to the bathroom and when i came back she was eating the chocolate icing that had about 1 tablespoon of coacoa 2 tablespoons of icing sugar and 2 tablespoons of water will she die?
 

Willowy

TCS Member
Top Cat
Joined
Mar 1, 2009
Messages
31,886
Purraise
28,287
Location
South Dakota
How much of it did she eat? Cats rarely consume enough for it to be toxic---they aren't piggies like dogs are ;). If she consumed the entire amount that would be enough to be toxic, but a few licks won't hurt.
 

cocobutterfly

TCS Member
Adult Cat
Joined
Feb 2, 2016
Messages
243
Purraise
62
A large concentrated amount could definitely be lethal to cats. There was one time when our cat, out of curiosity, took a bite out of a chocolate muffin while no one was looking. She didn't like it enough to take more than a bite but ended up swallowing small bits of chocolate. A few minutes later she was dry heaving and her stool came out runny. 
 

posiepurrs

TCS Member
Top Cat
Joined
Jan 11, 2015
Messages
2,696
Purraise
6,231
Location
Western Massachusetts, USA
Theobromine is the compound in chocolate that makes them sick. Since it would be difficult to determine just how much is in  something, I just avoid the cats or dog from getting any of it. As for houseplants mentioned there are a lot of common houseplants that are toxic - ivy, dracena, kalanchoe, some ferns and azaleas to name just a few. Don't forget cut flowers can cause harm too  - which is why I usually stick with roses without babies breath (toxic) or sunflowers. Tulips, daffodils, hydrangeas, mums( even the daisy flowers - they are actually mums) and of course any type of lily is toxic. My motto is better safe than sorry.
 
Top