In what ways are dogs affected by alcohol?
Disclaimer1: I have no intention of actually ever feeding mine or any other dog with alcohol or other harmful substances.
Everybody seems to know that alcohol is bad for pets. But just how bad?
When searching the internet the only things I can find are:
Websites that tell me alcohol is bad for dogs/cats, well thank you but it is clear that alcohol is a toxin
Websites that tell me how to diagnose alcohol poisoning in dogs, very useful but not quite what I am looking to find
A yahoo answers question dating back to 2009 giving some figures and pseudonumbers but nothing to back these things up
All of the things mentioned above do have the same problem: They give great advice, etc. But all the amounts, numbers and mentions of alcohol are in relative sizes (e.g. much, little, high, low). The problem of these relative sizes is that they are not of any use without any contextual information they relate to.
Q: Is there any hard-data on how much alcohol affects a dog in what way?
Googling for most common dog results in the Labrador Retriever, thus we will assume this specific breed for this question2.
1Because I feel it necessary to make this fact clear
2It makes sense that these numbers will be subsequently different for a Chihuahua or a Bernese Mountain Dog
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Dogs are a little bit more affected of alcohol than humans
But they have less weight, so they are much more affected when they drink the same amount. Humans have a lethal dose of 5 to 8 g/kg. www.alcohol.org.nz/alcohol-its-effects/health-effects/alcohol-poisoning The lethal dose of alcohol in dogs is 4.1-4.9g/kg.
Du Jardin-Beaumetz (8) gave the lethal dose (LD50) of 95% ethyl alcohol in dogs as 5.5-6.5 mL/kg with death occurring 12-24 hours after ingestion (1). This volume of alcohol equates to approximately 4.1-4.9 g/kg of 100% ethanol (the density of 95% ethanol is approximately 816 mg/mL (4); the specific gravity of 100% ethanol is 0.789 (9)). The toxic dose of pure alcohol (200 proof; 100% alcohol/ volume) in all species has recently been reported to be of the order of 8 g/kg in a single dose (10) www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1686341/pdf/canvetj00362-0043.pdf
Another way to measure the alcohol are the blood ethanol concentrations. The same article gives the following data:
Respiratory depression occurs at 400-500 mg/dL; coma at 450-500 mg/dL; and death above 600 mg/dL (12).
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