Please pass this on to all of your animal loving friends....
(Cross post freely!!!!)
COCOA MULCH
Sent to us by Meagan Karnes, of Fur Crazy Pet Care.
Yesterday, one of our clients experienced a tragedy and wanted me to
pass a special message along to all of my dog loving friends and
family. I was hoping you could forward this to your contact list.
My client was the doting owner of two young lab/golden retriever
mixes. Over the weekend, they 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. They set the bag in their yard. Their
dog Calypso, decided that the mulch smelled good enough to eat so she
broke into it and devoured a large helping. She vomited a few times which
was typical of her when she would get into something she shouldn?t have
gotten in to. She was not 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. Denise (Calypso?s
mom) wanted me to pass this information along so no one had to
experience the same tragedy she went through.
In Loving Memory of Calypso.
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 information about the mulch can be found here -
http://www.snopes.com/critters/crusader/cocoa.htm This site gives the
following information:
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 the ingredient that is used to make 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 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 click here to email the manufacturer and request that accurate
information about this product be posted on the packaging to avoid
further tragedy.
And please include Calypso's family in your prayers. Such tragedy is
shocking, made so much worse by the fact that it could have been
avoided had the manufacturers taken some responsibility for their product.
Thank You
