This was forwarded to me by a friend-- we already contacted the local news stations regarding this information. Please pass on to your animal lover friends!

Dear MAC Members and Friends:

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 dog owners 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 eatssomething 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."

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.

Theo bromine is the ingredient tha t 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 hourslater. Analysis of the stomach contents and the ingested cacao bean shells revealed the presence of lethal amounts of theobromine.

Please email the manufacturer at michellemessick@hersheys.com and
request that accurate information about this product be posted on the packaging to avoid further tragedy.

PLEASE GIVE THIS WIDEST DISTRIBUTION


Laura Caruso
All About Dogs and More

(781) 983-7350
www.allaboutdogsandmore.com

Wow. It's widely known that theobromine is toxic to dogs (and maybe to cats too, not sure) which is why pet owners are generally warned not to let their pets develop a taste for chocolate. So I'm surprised that a manufacturer would think they could get away with marketing something to put on your lawn that contains huge amounts of theobromine without any kind of warning. Maybe it's a sad commentary on the value of domestic animals in our culture. Legally, unless the animal killed is a prize show or breeding animal, there's very little in the way of legal recompense for the owners.

Actually, I find it even more odd that in our warning-obsessed litigious culture, the manufacturer would have actual stats on the danger to pets, indicating they had studied the issue, and still not bother putting a printed warning on the package. Really, how much does it to cost to add a warning to the bag?

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

What a trip. On their website they state that it's pet safe.http://www.cocoamulch.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=browse&id=23371&pageid=109

Maybe they've found a way to take out the bad stuff?

Chocolate is poisonous to cats as well. Both species lack the ability to metabolize some methylxanthines.