I believe Oscar got ahold of a candy bar sometime on Tuesday afternoon or evening. It was about 1/3 of a large 5 ounce milk chocolate and almond bar. I checked the "chocolate, when to worry" thread, and decided not to induce vomiting since I didn't think he ate enough to cause any real problems. I figured he ate, maybe, 2 ounces. He weighs about 7.5 pounds.

He woke up Wednesday morning about 3am and pooped in the bedroom. From then on, he had diarrhea (not liquid) and had to go out every 1.5 to 2 hours. He continued to be his normal, active, hungry, happy self. I started giving him a little cooked oatmeal and boiled chicken, to give his digestive system a rest. I also gave him some Kaopectate, which did slow the diarrhea to every 4 or 5 hours or so.

Friday evening, he started acting strange, avoiding people and just sleeping in a place by himself. About midnight Friday night, I woke him to get a bit of food and water in him, as his listnlessness was making me uneasy. It was going on 36 hours since he pooped in the bedroom and he wasn't getting any better. When I went to him about 1:30 am for a potty trip outside, he struggled to get to his feet and his right rear leg wasn't working. He was holding it up and walking with what seemed like great effort. I picked him up and took him outside, where he did his business and waited for me to take him back inside.

I'm pretty much freaking out by this point, seriously thinking about a trip to the emergency vet. I have recently read some negative reports from people who've taken pets there so I decided to watch him the rest of the night and consult with a vet in the morning. God only knows when I dozed off but when I woke up Saturday morning, Oscar seemed to be able to walk a little better but when I offered him food he turned away from it. I knew then he needed to see a vet immediately.I called a nearby vet that had seen Oscar once before, and they told me to bring him in right away.

They found he had a fever of almost 104 and was dehydrated. They gave him subcutaneous fluids in two areas and sent us home with 5 different meds and two cans of prescription food (i/d). The cool fluids seemed to have an immediate effect bringing down the fever and by the time we got home (about 3 miles away) he was ready to rough-house with Lucky. I can't tell you how relieved I was, and how good it was to see Oscar play fighting again. I was ordered not to feed him until about 7pm (he hadn't eaten since midnight) and then feed him about a teaspoon of the canned prescription food every 2-3 hours. I had to cheat a bit and bought a jar of baby food to mask the meds, which were crushed pills. Oscar is extremely suspicious and sniffs and licks anything that he suspects may be medicine, before carefully eating it. We got the blood test results back today and they are satisfied no internal damage was done as his numbers are mostly in the normal range.

In summary,  it was handy having the "chocolate:when to worry" and "how to induce vomiting" info available, but think the link below gives more detailed info about the levels of toxicity. Maybe the mods could add it to the original post there.  Also, I did the pinch method to check for dehydration, but didn't detect any signs, so I didn't really worry until he refused to eat or drink. I think the rapid onset of his fever may have kept me from detecting that.  Anyway, I'm just glad to have my baby back to normal.

Chocolate toxicity link.    http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2007/10/pets/chocolate-chart-interactive

OMG, I am so glad he is okay!! I would have been scared to death. Thank you for posting that information, I printed it out to have at home as well. I hope Oscar has a speedy recovery!!

OMG thank goodness he is ok. I am so glad that she is ok

I feel your panic,

Our 1 year old Spike 6 years back got into a plastic box of Ferrero Rocher (milk chocolate/hazlenut little chocolates), We got home and found the box open with a few still inside and shredded wrappers on the floor, we were freaking out trying to piece together wrappers because we could not remember how many were in the box to start with, he was panting and excitable (what 1 year old rattie is not) All turned out well and we learned to keep everything high enough off the ground.