Toxic Mulch

[retiredhappy]

A friend sent me this and I thought I'd pass it on since some of you still have yards.

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 d ay, 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.'

[Liz]

I've seen this before, but thanks for the reminder.

[Nasoosie]

This is very scary. I, too, got an email about that from somewhere.....sure wish they would take that crap off the market, as who knows what kind of mulch hotels, motels, campgrounds might use on their flower beds. Yes----thanks for the reminder as spring might be here some day and some mulch might become visible again!

[Cedar518]

good warning.... thank you!

[Bethers]

For any who might doubt this - this one going around by email is true. You can read more details on it at Snopes:

http://www.snopes.com/critters/crusader/cocoamulch.asp

[Echo]

There are so many stories that are passed from one person to another via email. 93% are enough to scare ya half to death. Then you get the ones that not only scare the crap out of you but make you ill when you find out that they're true.

I was gonna post about one such email I got today. It's about the Swifer Wetjet being toxic to pets.

I sent the email back to her with a link to snopes.com. I wish she would use the link as this is not the first time I gotten something like this from her.

[Getupngo]

I actually heard about this from "Home Time" or one of those shows ... nice organic mulch but keep it away from the dogs. I listened and remembered.