Cocoa Mulch Alert

Snopes says this is true. Dog owners beware!

http://www.snopes.com/critters/crusader/cocoamulch.asp

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 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 do g). 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 '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. J ust a word of caution check
what you are using in your gardens and be aware of what your gardeners
are using in your gardens.

Theo bromine 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.


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