SacPaws.com

Yesterday one of our dog agility friends experienced a tragedy and
 wanted me to pass a special message along to all of my dog loving
 friends and family. Please tell every dog owner you know.
 
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 t he label, upon further
 investigation on the company's website, this product is HIGHLY toxic to
 dogs.
 
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.' True information about the mulch
 can be found here - http://www.snopes.com/critt...;
 http://www.snopes.com/critt...
 
This site gives the following information: Cocoa Mulch, which is so ld 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.
 Just a word of caution, check what you are using in your gardens and be aware
 of what your gardeners are using in your gardens.
 
Theobromine is the ingredient that is used to make 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
 prese nce of lethal amounts of th eobromine.
 Please
 email the manufacturer at michellemessick@ hersheys. com and request
 that accurate information about this product be posted on the packaging
 to avoid further tragedy.