Warning Cocoa Mulch

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 and cats.


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.'


This Snopes site gives the following
information:
www.snopes.com/ critters/crusader/cocoamulch.asp



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. Theobromine is in

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.