Dog owners across Waterford are being advised to keep Easter eggs out of reach from their dogs this holiday weekend.
William Smith from City Vets in Waterford says most dogs will be fine if they eat some Easter Egg.
He has told WLR that while he has never seen a dog die from eating chocolate it is best to err on the side of caution.
"Milk chocolate, you don't give to your dog," he told Déise Today earlier this week, "Obviously, if your dog eats a whole egg and is starting to show some signs, then you need to bring them to the vet.
"Most dogs don't and I get phoned about this so regularly out of hours. The person comes home and the dog has eaten an Easter Egg.
"'How's the dog?' 'He's fine. He's running around, having his dinner, he's perfect.' In that case, honestly, you don't need to do anything.
"Just keep an eye on him."
Chocolate can cause your dog to experience:
- Vomitting
- Diarrhoea
- Excessive thirst
- Excitability
- Excessive urination
It can also cause more severe signs, such as seizures and changes to the heart rate.
Usually, the dog shows these signs within four hours of eating the chocolate, but it can take up to 24 hours and the signs can last a few days.
"Even if they get sick once and they are fine otherwise," Dr Smith continued, "honestly, I don't do anything.
"If they have eaten a big lot of cocoa - the active toxic ingredient in the chocolate - obviously, they need to come in.
"Signs of that would be that they are a bit agitated or twitchy or if they get worse, they go the other way and become comatose.
"So if they start to show any kind of neurological sign, it's obviously much more serious."
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