Mish Mash Friday!!!
Yea it’s Friday!!!! The weekend in the northeast promises to be an extremely hot one with temperatures into the 90’s and so it’s time to remember to keep your dog hydrated, in the house for the hottest parts of the day and OUT OF THE CAR (unless you are in it and the air conditioning is running)!!!!
Since it’s the end of the week, I thought I would pass on a bit of information that was realized from a tragic situation. This time of year many people want to spruce up their yards and using mulch is one way many gardeners choose to pretty up their property. There is a mulch product on the market called Cocoa Mulch which contains a chemical called Theobromine and caffine. Dogs are attacted to the smell of the mulch and they don’t mind the taste either. However, the mulch can kill the dog as a result of the poison they ingest from the mulch. Such a case happened last weekend when the owner of two lovely labs purchased the cocoa mulch in Target. Its also sold in Home Depot, Foreman’s Garden Supply and other garden center establishments.
One of the labs named Calypso loved the smell of the mulch and took a fairly large helping. Shortly thereafter, the dog vomited a couple of times, but that seemed to be the last of the malady. However, the next morning when the owner took the dog out for the morning walk, the dog had a seizure and died instantly. There are no warnings on the bags of mulch that are made by Hershey’s, but they do acknowledge that about 50% of the dogs that ingest the product do end up getting sick. Theobromine is an ingredient that is used to make all types of chocolate and is potentially lethal for dogs. Mulch made with the shells of cocoa beans can be just as lethal and several dogs just in the past several weeks have died from ingesting the shell mulch. So know what is in your garden and in the gardens of people with whom your dog visits. Another tragedy doesn’t need to happen.
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