One Of My Cats Ate A Piece Of A Brownie...

Alex_ayye

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I have three indoor cats. 2 of them are mine (Steppy and Bugsie) and the other cat is my moms (Cudi). Last night I ate dinner in my living room and must’ve forgotten the bowl I had a brownie in. I had eaten more than half of a small, square brownie. There was about 1 inch by 1/2 inch piece of brownie left. Bugsie (my oldest) doesn’t pay attention to chocolate, but the other 2 are younger and not as well-trained. None of the cats are acting differently and I’ve checked on all of them. What should I watch for? I’m worried sick right now and I don’t understand how I even forgot to remove the bowl. Thank you in advance for any advice.
 

catsknowme

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I would video the behaviors of all the cats and then call your veterinarian's office. Look for signs of too much caffeine such as hyperactivity and restlessness, also vomiting, drooling and diarrhea (it's also theobromine that is toxic) . Ask your vet about possibly administering charcoal powder. Before that I knew that chocolate was bad for cats, I had had cats eat brownies and chocolate chip cookies (homemade, so I know for a fact that they'd ingested real cocoa).
And please don't beat yourself up over this - it doesn't sound life threatening at this point - nobody is having seizures, behaving erratically, having projectile vomiting and you have learned a valuable lesson. Please let us know what the vet says.
 

Willowy

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I don't think there's enough cocoa in that size of brownie to hurt them.

This calculator says there is about 43mg of theobromine in one square of brownie. Which I'm sure varies depending on the recipe, but approximately. And that's well within the safe zone. So they should be OK. But of course if you see any symptoms you should call the vet right away.
Chocolate Toxicity Calculator
 

jen

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Not enough cocoa in that to matter BUUUUUUUUT always watch for diarrhea and vomiting. Vomiting would happen fairly quickly. Diarrhea could last a little longer depending on how they handle it.
 
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Alex_ayye

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Okay, I monitored all three of the cats all day yesterday and last night. None of them even remotely showed symptoms. I did call our veterinarian and she instructed me to check litter boxes and the house for vomit and diarrhea and to keep a close eye on them. They did their normal routines and didn’t even act hyper. Lesson learned! Yesterday was seriously one of the scariest days of my life! Thank you all for your responses and concerns! It means a lot!
 

VinceL

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Our vet has told me that after every holiday that involves candy (Halloween, Christmas, Easter, etc.) his practice receives multiple panicked calls from people whose dog or cat ate some chocolate. His advice is the same as several on this thread have given. Monitor them for any signs of elevated heart rate, vomiting or diarrhea. But, generally speaking they would have to consume a lot of chocolate for it to be a health issue.

When I was a kid, we had a dog (about 16 lbs). Each year on his birthday, he would get a pretty good sized slice of Sara Lee chocolate cake with the chocolate icing. Back in those days, I'm sure there was quite a bit of real chocolate in that cake and icing. He never suffered any ill effects. Of course, 55 years ago the potential effects of chocolate on dogs/cats weren't widely known.
 
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