Don't let your dog eat this

Sent to me- passing it on to you.

PLEASE PASS IT ON ~ EVEN IF YOU DON'T HAVE A DOG OR
CAT, YOU SURELY KNOW
SOMEONE WHO DOES.

Checked on www.Snopes.com
and it is true.

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.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.