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With “Spring in the Air” (or wishing it was!) I’m beginning to start my gardening so I made a note to myself, “remind gardeners not to put weed killer down or anything else”. This thought reminded me of a very important article I want to share to help pet parents protect their beloved pets! Please read below:
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 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.’
TRUE STORY … This Snopes site gives the following information:
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. 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, a xanthine compound similar in effects to caffeine and
theophylline. A dog that ingested a lethal quantity of garden mulch
made fr om cacao bean shells developed severe convulsions and died 17
hours later. Analysis of the stomach contents and the ingested cacao
beanshells revealed the presence of lethal amounts of theobromine.
PLEASE GIVE THIS THE WIDEST DISTRIBUTION!
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