Dogs Will Be Dogs. Keep Them Away From the Mulch Beds

 
Please tell every dog or cat owner you know. Even if you don't have a pet, please pass this message along to those who do. 
 

I'm not sure how current this story is, or if I have all the facts straight, but the underlying message is important if you love your pet. 

Recently, the caring owner of two lovable mutts purchased Cocoa Mulch from a major retailer to fix the landscaping in their garden. They really liked the way it smelled and it was advertised to keep cats away from their garden. One of their dogs decided that the mulch smelled good enough to eat and devoured a large helping. Although she vomited a few times which wasn't unusual given that it wasn't exactly puppy chow that she had eaten, and because she wasn't acting lethargic in any way, the owners weren't alarmed.  In fact, the next day, one of the owners woke up and took the dogs out for a morning walk . Half way through the walk, the dog who had ingested the cocoa mulch 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, which is manufactured by a leading candy manufacturer, defended itself by saying "While 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)... 98% of all dogs won't eat it. '

 This Snopes site gives the following information:

"Cocoa Mulch, which is sold by many leading home and garden centers across the country, contains a lethal ingredient called Theobromine. It is lethal to dogs and cats. It smells like chocolate and if your dogs are like mine, the scent is very attractive to them. If they ingest this stuff, they can die.  There are reports of several other deaths  in the last 2-3 weeks. Theobromine is in all chocolate, especially dark or baker's chocolate which is also 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. "
 
IF YOU LOVE YOUR DOG, KEEP THEM AWAY FROM CHOCOLATE AND ANY THING MADE FROM COCOA OR WITH THEOBROMINE.