Cocoa Mulch Can Cause Death
(manufactured by Hershey}
In Loving
Memory of Calypso.
Denise (Calypso's mom) a doting owner of two
young lab/golden retriever mixes. Wants to pass this information along so no
one has to experience the same tragedy she went through.
Over the weekend, Denise
purchased Cocoa Mulch from Target to use in their garden.
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 companys website, 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).
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.