WARNING FOR PET OWNERS

This message was sent to us from one of our clients:

Please read
This was just sent to me by my dogster group:

Yesterday one of our dog agility friends experienced a
tragedy and wanted me to pass a special message
along to all of my dog/cat loving friends and family.

Please tell every pet owner 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 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.

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 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 THE WIDEST
DISTRIBUTION !!!