Kitty Heimlich?

November 4, 2007 11:22 AM

My cat got into some white chocolate. Will she die?

I left a partial bar of white chocolate on the kitchen counter, which I thought my kitten couldn't reach. Turns out, she's gotten more agile, and ate a chunk about the size of a decent-sized thumbnail before I spotted her. I know regular chocolate is really bad, but this doesn't have cocoa, just cocoa butter. How bad is this?

posted by the luke parker fiasco to pets & animals (17 comments total)

White chocolate: 200 ounces per pound of body weight. It takes 250 pounds of white chocolate to cause signs of nervous-system poisoning in a 20-pound dog, 125 pounds for a 10-pound dog.

Your cat should be ok.
posted by DieHipsterDie at 11:29 AM on November 4, 2007

she should be fine
posted by bitdamaged at 11:30 AM on November 4, 2007

Wow ... that's a relief. I figured it wasn't too bad, but didn't want to chance it.

Where did you find that info, if you don't mind my asking?
posted by the luke parker fiasco at 11:31 AM on November 4, 2007

Whoops wrong link

this should be right
posted by bitdamaged at 11:32 AM on November 4, 2007

I found the same info by typing in "cats chocolate" in google. I also found it here
posted by bitteroldman at 11:32 AM on November 4, 2007

This website would seem to indicate that your cat will be fine: "It takes 125 pounds of white chocolate to cause nervous-system toxicity signs in a 10-pound dog or a 10-pound cat."

Incidentally, the site also points out that for milk chocolate, a 10-lb cat would still need to eat half a pound of chocolate to show signs of toxicity.
posted by lunasol at 11:33 AM on November 4, 2007

whoops, bitdamaged was quicker on the draw! Kudos to you!
posted by bitteroldman at 11:33 AM on November 4, 2007

For future reference, the ASPCA Poison Control Center is a great place to go with these kinds of questions. In addition to having a very informative website, they also have a 24-hour advice line. So if your dog or cat manages to chew open and devour a bottle of pills at 2:30 a.m. (as mine once did), you can call and talk to an actual human being about what to do.
posted by palmcorder_yajna at 11:50 AM on November 4, 2007 [5 favorites]

I could be wrong, but I think that darker chocolate has more theobromine (the toxic stuff) than white chocolate. In fact, I don't think that white chocolate is actually chocolate at all, because it has no cacao in it, just cacao butter.
posted by Solomon at 11:57 AM on November 4, 2007

Solomon, I think you're right -- that's what I remember anyway. Unsweetened dark chocolate is the worst for pets to get into because it's the most concentrated. Milk or white chocolate is a lot harder for them to hurt themselves with.

Though, y'know, it's still got dairy and sugar and fats in it that pets might not be used to, and even if it doesn't poison them it can still be a disgustingly messy event.
posted by cmyk at 12:07 PM on November 4, 2007

Thanks so much for the info, everyone. I did a cursory search at first and didn't come up with much for white chocolate specifically; and I was worried enough that I shot it over to the hive mind in the hopes of finding a quick answer.

Y'all are awesome ...
posted by the luke parker fiasco at 12:10 PM on November 4, 2007

Solomon is correct -- the only chocolate in white chocolate is in the name -- all the real chocolate's been removed from it. But thanks lunasol, I thought the chocolate ban was just about dogs, not cats. (Although I've never known a cat that displayed any interest in sweets.)
posted by Rash at 1:08 PM on November 4, 2007

250 lbs? Does the cat have to ingest it, or could you just drop it on him?
posted by ikkyu2 at 3:06 PM on November 4, 2007 [3 favorites]

Out of curiosity, is it even possible for a 10-pound cat to eat 250 lbs. of anything?
posted by dhammond at 3:23 PM on November 4, 2007

250 lbs? Does the cat have to ingest it, or could you just drop it on him?

IM IN UR KITCHEN, PUTTIN WILLIE WONKA TO SHAME?
posted by DMan at 3:27 PM on November 4, 2007

I would expect that the 250-lb figure was arrived at by figuring out the amount of theobromine per gram of white chocolate and then figuring out how much white chocolate would be needed to yield that much theobromine. As Rash said, white chocolate much less of many of the chemical components that are in regular chocolate.
posted by Johnny Assay at 6:10 AM on November 5, 2007

I found out recently that grapes are poisonous to dogs. Seriously. Grapes. So I think I'll shoot over to that poison website in hopes of finding out more about our furry friends and their intolerances.
posted by agregoli at 8:21 AM on November 5, 2007