Hi Everyone

Please, please remember to keep all human chocolate well hidden away from your pets as it can be highly poisonous.

To most of us, chocolate is a delicious brown substance, with no more problems than an expanding waistline or rotting teeth. To dogs, chocolate is also delicious, but potentially lethal. The humble cocoa bean, from which chocolate is produced, contains a chemical called theobromine. This is closely related to caffeine, which chocolate also contains. The toxicity of chocolate for dogs is due to its theobromine content.

Chocolate poisoning is very serious. Theobromine is a long lasting, very potent toxin that can cause death. This toxicity is largely unfamiliar to most people, who may not worry too much if their dog vomits after eating a large quantity of chocolate. It is one of the most common poisonings to occur in dogs in the UK.

 It’s helpful to know where your local veterinary surgery is if an emergency arises.

Now a new iPhone app is available to help point you in the right direction, finding the nearest veterinary practice or animal hospital wherever you are in the UK.

The V-E-T app developed by VetUK is free from iTunes and uses GPS in your phone to locate your position and then searches through its database of over 5,000 UK vets to locate the nearest – then directs you to it!