Thought I'd pass this info along-
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.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 th eobromine, a xanthine compound similar in effects to caffei n e 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.
Cocoa Mulch Warning to Pet owners, particularly dogs
Thank you for letting us know, it would be terrible to have that happen to your pet.
Josephine.
I've not seen Cocoa mulch but have heard of it's dangers..I was at Calloways yesterday & noticed pecan mulch...which the squirrels love as they ripped open the bags!! haha. I laughed at the salesperson as their sign read it was good for repelling unwanted animals & pets! hahahaha..I guess a squirrel is not on the "unwanted" list!!
Thank you for this warning!! I'll spread the word as best I can.
Sorry to barge in, I'm not from TX, I found this thread while researching cocoa mulch. The original post is from an email circulated in 2003. The exact same story was emailed and posted all over, by different people, with different beginnings (a dear friend...,someone in our dog agility class..., etc), so it is generally taken as not a genuine occurrence (see http://www.themediadesk.com/files/cocoamulch.htm) and is now considered spam. There's a good but technical page at http://www2.aspca.org/site/PageServer?pagename=pro_apcc_publicationscocoa , and they list one fatality as documented in 1984 with a large ingestion, but the retrospective studies the ASPCA looked at showed that most dogs didn't even get sick, or just threw up, and 2/3 of cases were in California. So, I definitely wouldn't use in an big open area where dogs roam free a lot or put down fresh in warm weather (probably makes it smell stronger?); i still haven't decided if I want to use it in the small area I want it for that will be mostly under plants (and turned under as it breaks down). But I wouldn't keep forwarding that old story. Better to share a link to the ASPCA site.
They do recommend that "Pet owners should avoid use of cocoa bean mulch in landscaping around dogs with indiscriminate eating habits." That's every dog I've ever known :D And who wants them yaking cocoa hulls all over the place anyway. :~P
Sandy (computer geek and Spam buster)
it's good to get the scoop. I'll confess it only got to the forum because I saw snopes, and frankly I never get pre-snoped mail..so..I let it sliiiide.
Marked TRUE by Snopes, so it's one of those few e-mails going around that carries a genuine warning worth reading.
delete delete delete
But it is still a good and accurate warning: it IS poisonous to dogs, and they CAN get sick and they CAN die from it. Good enough for me! So, thanks again, rjudd!
I will just add that e-mailing these types of warnings out CC to dozens of people:
1) can be a time-waster
2) increases the amount of spam you may receive
3) increases the number of viruses you may receive
2 and 3 are because if even 1 e-mail address on the list is compromised, then the whole list of e-mail addresses gets added to various lists.
99% of the time that I get one of these "mass forwarded" e-mails, it's something stupid. The first time, I politely ask them not to e-mail me again. The second time, I REPLY ALL and post links to websites debunking whatever malarky they are trying to "warn" me about. That usually stops them. ;)
I am a pet owner(8 teacup yorkies), and I think it is a truly valid warning, regardless...
They are always picking up leaves and sticks and stuff to chew on while they are outside. Sometimes even sampling dirt and grass, lol...
They LOVE the smell of chocolate, and are always try to persuade me to let them have some. I think that cocoa mulch would be irresistible to them.
I'd worry as much about the poisoning, as I would the sharp edges of the pieces causing all kinds of internal problems, including hemoraging, and blockage.
Thanks for the warning, whether a "Calypso" died, or not.
Sounds reasonable to me and I don't want "Ches-ther" to get sick. He eats everything.
Christi
Such sweet babies.
feldon - email them bcc, and your worries are over. I always bcc. And I really dislike it when I receive an email that has been cc'd. All those people now have my email addy, and so do their computers and viruses. I usually give the sender a good thonk on the head. ^_^
Truly precious puppies!
This message was edited Feb 17, 2009 1:34 PM
ok...admitting I don't know...
what is the difference between ccd, and bcc?
-T
When you send an email, you can cc (carbon copy) to many people, but each of them will see all of the addresses, and each computer can potentially cause harm if it has a virus. (Many viruses are spun off from emails' addresses along with the address book you have). If you bcc (blind carbon copy) no one can see the others' addresses, and it is not a danger either. The addresses are blind to all.
Unless you just forward and then send as is. Drives me nuts. When one forwards an email...
click forward, then erase all of the other information from the first sender with the backspace button, then click bcc (blind carbon copy), in the address space put your own email address. Privacy saved.
thanks for the detailed explanation. I'd imagine there are some people that do this out of simple ignorance of it, rather than just doing it with disregard.
thanks, again
I agree. Sometimes I get a forward that has been "forwarded" 10 times and all the addresses from timbuctu are still hitchin' a ride.
that's right Seedpicker..I belong to a Westie group on Yahoo & they are always researching these claims & there is a huge on on cocoa mulch...it smells like chocolate & is made of the cocoa bean which is toxic to dogs.
I don't see any garden places selling it in my area so perhaps I don't have to worry about getting it mixed up.