With summer just around the corner, many of us are out in our
gardens making them look pretty for the warm weather season. As we do
so, we may also receive frightening emails that warn we could be
putting our pets in danger by purchasing products that are poisonous to
them in very small doses.
One such email arrived in my mailbox last night. It's a tragic story
about a young Lab named Calypso who is
reported to have died recently after eating a small amount of cocoa
mulch. Since I've used cocoa mulch in my yard for years, I was
terrified and grateful that Chocolate, my Yorkie, had never seemed
interested in eating the chocolate-smelling cocoa bean shells. From
doing a bit of research, I found the email is five years old, and it has
scared enough people that a significant amount of sleuthing has been
done, and the danger, while something to be aware of, is not as dire as
the original email portrays. Here are the key points:
- Cocoa Mulch can hurt your pets if ingested in large enough quantities (see the chart listed on the ASPCA site)
- While Calypso's death is unsubstantiated (see Hoax-Slayer), there is a substantiated death of Moose, a three year old Lab who lived in Minnesota - see Snoops.com
- AVMA questions whether the death, if the story is true, is due to this type of poisoning
Key quotes worth highlighting here include:
From the AVMA:
The story being circulated about a young dog named Calypso ingesting cocoa bean shell mulch may be true, Dr. Hansen said, but the cause of the dog's death is "highly suspect." The statement that she vomited a few times is consistent with such poisoning, but not the absence of other clinical signs until the next day, when the dog is said to have had a single seizure during her morning walk and died instantly.
From Hoax-Slayer, this is worth considering:
Nonetheless, although the truth of Calypso's story may be somewhat questionable, dog owners should take heed of the message's warning. If you have a dog, especially one that is not fussy about what it eats (not an uncommon characteristic among our canine friends), it would be wise to avoid the use of cocoa mulch, or at least keep a close eye on Rover's garden forays.
and the ASPCA:
Pet owners should avoid use of cocoa bean mulch in landscaping around dogs with indiscriminate eating habits.
and
We recommend avoiding use of cocoa bean shell mulch in landscaping around unsupervised dogs.
With this info, may you and your brood have a safe summer in your lovely garden.
