Can Dogs Eat Kit Kats?

The purpose of this research is to explain the “Can Dogs Eat Kit Kats?“.

A Kit Kat bar makes you think of kicking back and relaxing.

It was “have a break have a Kit Kat” that dominated British TV ads for years and they were designed to fit inside a lunchbox in 1935. 

In addition their “finger” design means they are easy to break into pieces to enjoy throughout the day or to share with a friend or a dog?

My dog would love it if I snapped a piece.

As well as the next man I know that dogs should not eat chocolate.

Can a Kit Kat bar harm a dog if it contains enough chocolate?

Can Dogs have Kit Kats?

Having a bite or two of milk chocolate or dark chocolate Kit Kat will not harm your dog.

It is because they are chocolate-covered biscuit wafers.

The four-finger Kit Kat weighs 42 grams (1.5 ounces).

There is more weight in the wafer than in the chocolate.

In summary a medium-sized dog would have to consume several dozen “fingers” of Kit Kat before they would be at risk for poisoning.

For smaller dogs and if the Kit Kat was coated in dark chocolate instead of milk chocolate the figure would be slightly lower. 

Once thats been established lets examine the problem ingredients in Kit Kats- cocoa butter and chocolate. 

What are the ingredients in Kit Kats?

Milk chocolate has been the only flavor available to Kit Kats for most of its life. 

There are currently three flavors available to buy in the US and they are all dark chocolate varieties — one that is dipped in mint the other in strawberry. 

It is the chocolate contained within a Kit Kat that is the main cause of concern for any dog owner so I will discuss the dangers milk chocolate and dark chocolate pose to dogs right away. 

Cocoa Butter and Chocolate

You may have heard that dogs are poisoned by chocolate if they eat enough of it. 

Theobromine is found in cocoa which is the main ingredient in chocolate. 

The dog might die if they ingest too much of this chemical because it can cause heart failure at the extreme end. 

Now lets take a few deep breaths

Due to their high cocoa content and therefore theobromine content dark chocolates are the most dangerous. 

Compared to dark chocolate KitKats milk chocolate KitKats pose a much smaller risk to your dog. 

Cocoa butter also contains a low level of theobromine which is good news as far as this research is concerned. 

How much milk chocolate is in a Kit Kat? 

The average medium-sized dog (50 lbs or 23 kg) will need to consume nine ounces of milk chocolate before showing any signs of poisoning. 

Two- and four-finger Kit Kat bars are available.

The weight of a KitKat bar is 1.5 ounces. 

From a chocolate poison angle your dog should be fine if he eats nine ounces six bars or 24 fingers of KitKats. 

The reason for this is that KitKats contain more wafers or biscuits than chocolate. 

If your dog consumes even a small amount of Kit Kat it begs the question why or how? 

I think it proves that your dog would have to eat a tremendous amount of milk chocolate Kit Kats to place themselves in danger.

However how much more serious is a dark chocolate Kit Kat to your dog?

What do you think? Lets find out shall we?

How much dark chocolate can my dog eat?

Cocoa butter and chocolate are the main ingredients in a milk chocolate Kit Kat. 

In dark chocolate varieties cocoa butter chocolate and cocoa are processed with alkali. 

Therefore dark chocolate flavored Kit Kats will contain a higher concentration of theobromine than white chocolate but it is impossible to know exactly how much. 

It is possible that dark chocolate contains ten times more theobromine than milk chocolate at its worst.

Dark chocolate Kit Kats however probably contain three times as much theobromine as milk chocolate.

Thus the rough guide of nine ounces (or six four-finger bars of milk chocolate) reduces to three ounces or just two four-finger bars. 

I will link you to a chocolate calculator for dogs to help you even further.

This is a free online tool you can use to determine if your dog is in any danger after eating too many Kit Kats or any other type of chocolate. 

You simply need to enter your dogs weight the type of chocolate consumed and the amount consumed.

After that it will tell you what you need to do.

Due to the seriousness of this issue I would like to highlight some of the symptoms of chocolate poisoning that a concerned dog owner should be aware of. 

How do I know if my dog has been poisoned with chocolate?

To this point every piece of advice I have offered has been a rough guide. 

I would like to discuss symptoms in this section. 

You should look for these behaviors in your dog if you suspect that they have been poisoned. 

Lets get down to business shall we? 

For 12 hours you should keep an eye on your dog if you are worried. 

The poison can take up to this amount of time to infect them. 

If your dog has eaten too many Kit Kats he’ll probably vomit or have diarrhea. 

If your dog only vomits or has diarrhea with no other symptoms then you can definitely say your dog is fine. 

Other more sinister symptoms may also be present. 

There are two main symptoms you should look out for as the body tries to flush the poison away and then rehydrate. 

Other symptoms include restlessness (partly caused by caffeine which can also be found in chocolate) a rapid heartbeat and seizures. 

If your dog shows any of these symptoms do not hesitate to contact your veterinarian as soon as possible. 

Now that we have seen how Kit Kat bars’ different chocolates may affect your dog lets look at the other ingredients and see if they are compatible with him. 

Aside from chocolate there are six other main ingredients in Kit Kats. 

I have no idea how much each of these ingredients contributes to the final product all I know is that each contributes more than 2%. 

Sugar

Sugar is the primary ingredient in this chocolate bar which should come as no surprise. 

A chocolate bar is after all a chocolate bar. 

Humans and dogs are affected by sugar in the same way. 

Having too much of it can contribute to weight gain and it isnot good for a dogs teeth either. 

In case you are particularly interested in this topic I have written an research about the effects sugar might have on dogs. 

Wheat Flour

There is a great deal of flour in the biscuit wafers that are covered in chocolate. 

This is not a healthy ingredient but would not harm your dog if they are wheat intolerant. 

If they are your dog may have diarrhea due to the fact that wheat flour is the second-most common ingredient. 

Skim Milk/ Milk Fat/ Lactose

Its interesting to note the use of three milk products in Kit Kats. 

If your dog is lactose intolerant this should not be a problem for most dogs but it is something to keep in mind. 

It boils down to how much Kit Kat your dog eats how sensitive their intolerance is and how much of these milk products are in the recipe.

Despite not being 100% certain I would think that the amounts used are not very large. 

Vegetable Oil (Palm Kernel Oil Palm Oil)

In a Kit Kat vegetable oil isnot an ingredient to worry about. 

There appears to be only a small amount of it used to make this tasty chocolate.

I have written in more detail about what happens if a dog eats (or drinks) vegetable oil. 

The final section of this research will focus on how safe it will be if your dog eats the entire Kit Kat- wafer chocolate and wrapper.  

Help! My dog ate Kit Kat Wrapper

Kit Kat products are usually wrapped in plastic.

If your dog is so desperate for food that they eat the Kit Kat bar and its wrapping then there are a few things to watch out for.

Plastic cannot be digested by dogs so the best you can hope for is that the wrapping will appear in bits in their stool after a few days.

There may be tiny flecks of blood here and there and your stool might be soft but the wrapper has found its way out again. 

As the wrapper makes its way through the dogs digestive system the worst thing that can happen is that it gets stuck somewhere within it. 

It might have a rather constant cough or it might be gagging almost constantly or it might be straining and failing to poop.  

Please call your veterinarian as soon as possible.

Alternatively your dog may show symptoms that are somewhere between the two extremes.

When you see them gagging you may see them cough up some of the plastic wrappers. 

They might be straining to poop and succeed after a few minutes with a little plastic wrap thrown in for good measure.

This depends in part on how aggressively your dog ate the packaging- did they manage to rip it into small pieces so that it would be easier to pass through the dogs body? 

In the first place how much packaging did they consume?

Is it a four-fingered bar or the packaging from a multipack?

If you want to read more about dog food tips read here: Dog Food Tips and Tricks.

Can Dogs Eat Kit Kats? (Watch Video)