White chocolate

[luvtiels]

We all know that brown chocolate is very bad for animals, but what about white chocolate? Does anyone know? Just curious. . . .

 

[Riley's mom]

All chocolate, brown or white is not good for animals. Dark chocolate is very bad. It's not the color, its the ingredients.

 

[Auggie's Dad]

It depends what you mean by 'white chocolate'. Most white chocolate can still be dangerous as it contains cocoa butter, but the toxins (theobromine and caffeine) are at minuscule levels compared to products containing cocoa mass/powder (ie other chocolate).

Additionally some so-called white chocolate nowadays actually does not contain any cocoa butter, or when it does it only has small amounts. Much 'white chocolate' is just milk and sugar. Neither of these are toxic for a bird, but they also aren't that healthy - if they eat much of this they could get quite an upset stomach.

So the answer is 'it depends'. But white chocolate is not nearly as dangerous as dark varieties, in fact some types of white chocolate could be perfectly safe.... but why bother as they would not be healthy anyways?

 

[Auggie's Dad]

It's not the color, its the ingredients.

Yes, but they have completely different ingredients.

 

[luvtiels]

Not that I was actually going to give any of my animals white chocolate, but if a piece fell on the floor, would I have a problem if the dog got to it before I did? Like I said, just curious. Thanks for the answers.

 

[Auggie's Dad]

Dogs are heartier than birds in general anyhow. So you should not be worried at all.

Most likely if the dog chowed down an a huge piece of white chocolate the worst you'd face is a bit of a mess to clean up when it came out of whichever end it chooses.

A small piece? That shouldn't have any effect at all.