Please tell every dog or cat owner you know. Even if you don’t have a pet, please pass this to those who do.
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: http://www.facebook.com/l.php?u=http://www.snopes.com%2Fcritters%2Fcrusader%2Fcocoamulch.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.
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This, I believe, happend to our lab mix young dog, Cody, several weeks ago. We had gardeners out on a Friday, mulching garden beds. Cody was with them most of the afternoon. We live in the country, and he would eat deer scat, and nasty stuff I’d pull from his chops if I found him eating anything. Well, Sunday morning, I found him dead in the pasture. No signs of trauma, nothing. We took him to the vet, and the vet examined him, but could not determine cause of death. She didn’t even suggest mulch ingestion. Needless to say, we are heartbroken, and just now coming to grips with how he most likely died. We are contacting the gardeners to find out what mulch brand they use, but I just went out and smelled it, and it has a chocolatey aroma. I am angry that NOBODY knew about this, or failed to mentioned it to us.
Legrand – I’m so sorry you had to suffer this loss and sorry that you didn’t find the article online sooner. I agree that the mulch should have a huge warning label telling consumers that it is attractive and poisonous to dogs.
I love those large German Shepherd dogs and also those tiny Chihuahua’*~
I love those large German Shepherd dogs and also those tiny Chihuahua’;,