Crossposted w/ permission:
Subject: Lethal for Dogs & Cats
Yesterday one of our dog agility
friends experienced
a tragedy and wanted me to pass a special message along to all of
my dog loving friends
and family. Please tell all dog owners you
know!
Over the weekend the doting owner of two young lab ixes purchased
Cocoa Mulch from Target to use in their garden.
They oved 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 companies web site, this product is
HIGHLY toxic
to dogs.
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 Cocoa
Mulch can suffer physical harm to a variety of degrees
(depending on
each individual dog). However, 98% of all dogs won't eat it."
[wonder how many dogs died proving that?]
True information about the mulch can be found here -
This site gives the following information:
Check with SNOOPS:
Cocoa Mulch, which is sold by Home Depot, Foreman's Garden Supply and
other Garden supply stores, contains
a lethal ingredient called "Theo bromine".
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.
[even
if your cats stay indoors, there are feral & neighborhood cats that need to be protected also]
Theo bromine is the ingredient that is used to make all chocolate, especially dark or baker's chocolate, which
is toxic to dogs [& cats].
Cocoa bean shells contain potentially toxic quantities of
theobromine, a xanthine compound similar in effects to caffeine and theophylline. A dog that ingested a lethal
quantity 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 be an shells revealed the presence of lethal amounts
of
theobromine.
Thanks for the message Our home Depot took it upon
themselves to post a sign with the warning, also a
lot
of grass mats for doorways are made out of the cocoa
products .
Please email the manufacturer
and request that accurate information about this product be posted on the packaging to avoid further tragedy.
PLEASE
GIVE THIS WIDEST DISTRIBUTION
