Important Info for Pet Guardians

This email has been going around the Internet for a while.  Included in it is a link to more complete information from Snopes.com.

Please share this with all the pet guardians you know and ask them to do the same - the information you take a few minutes to share might prevent the senseless loss of other pets .

       
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Please   tell  every dog or cat guardian you know.. Even if   you don't have a pet,  please pass this to those   who do. 
Over the weekend,   the doting  guardian of two young lab mixes  purchased Cocoa Mulch   fromTarget to  use in their  garden . The dogs loved the way   it smelled and it  was advertised to  keep cats away from  their garden.  Their dog  (Calypso) decided 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 web  site, 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."
*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.
    
** PLEASE   PASS  THIS ON **