[NEohioPAL] a warning to pet owners about cocoa mulch

[FSternfeld at aol.com]

Please tell every dog owner you  know.

Over the weekend the doting owner of two young lab mixes purchased  Cocoa 
Mulch from Target to use in their garden. They loved the way it smelled,  and it 
was advertised to keep cats away from their garden.

Their dog  Calypso decided that the mulch smelled good enough to eat and 
devoured a large  helping. She vomited a few times which was typical when she eats 
something new  but wasn't acting lethargic in any way. The next day, Mom woke 
up and took  Calypso out for her morning walk, half way through the walk, she 
had a seizure  and died instantly.

Although the mulch had NO warnings printed on the  label, upon further 
investigation on the company's website, this product is  HIGHLY toxic to dogs and 
cats. Cocoa Mulch is manufactured by Hershey's, and  they claim that It is true 
that studies have shown that 50% of the dogs that eat  Coc oa Mulch can suffer 
physical harm to a variety of degrees depending on each  individual dog). 
'However, 98% of all dogs won't eat it.'


This Snopes  site gives the following information:
_http://www.snopes.com/critters/crusader/cocoamulch.asp_ 
(http://www.snopes.com/critters/crusader/cocoamulch.asp)   
<_http://www.snopes.com/critters/crusader/cocoamulch.asp_ (http://www.snopes.com/critters/crusader/cocoamulch.asp) >  

Cocoa Mulch, which  is sold by Home Depot, Foreman's Garden Supply and other 
Garden supply stores,  contains a lethal ingredient called 'Theobromine'. It 
is lethal to dogs and  cats. It smells like chocolate and it really attracts 
dogs. They will ingest  this stuff and die. Several deaths already occurred in 
the last 2-3 weeks. Just  a word of caution, check what you are using in your 
gardens and be aware of what  your gardeners are using in your gardens.
Theobromine is in all chocolate,  especially dark or baker's chocolate
which is toxic to dogs.
Cocoa bean  shells contain potentially toxic quantities of theobromine,
axanthine  compound similar in effects to caffeine and theophylline. A
dog that ingested  a l ethal quan tity of garden mulch made from cacao bean 
shells developed severe  convulsions and died 17 hours later. Analysis of the 
stomach contents and the  ingested cacao bean shells revealed the presence of 
lethal amounts of  theobromine.

PLEASE GIVE THIS THE WIDEST DISTRIBUTION!!!  
 

 

 











**************It's only a deal if it's where you want to go. Find your travel 
deal here.      
(http://information.travel.aol.com/deals?ncid=aoltrv00050000000047)
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.neohiopal.org/pipermail/neohiopal-neohiopal.org/attachments/20080902/72c3e986/attachment-0003.htm>