Post by Brooke on May 17, 2004 0:14:45 GMT -5
Cocoa Mulch Bad For Dogs
POSTED: 1:00 a.m. EDT May 12, 2004
Channel 6 New Investigates...... You would never feed your dog a chocolate bar... so why would you put something just as toxic on your garden? More on a special kind of mulch that could poison your pooch.
Holly May is using Cocoa Mulch for the first time. "I liked the smell a lot it definitely has an attractive color too... reds and browns are nice."
But that smell is also attractive to your dogs-- we put the mulch to the test-- this lab didn't seem too interested.
"They didn't seem to mind it. They weren't eating it by the mouthfulls they just wanted to smell and went about their business."
But this puppy is eating up the cocoa mulch-- filled with 2 to 3 times the toxicity of the chocolate found in your milk chocolate candy bar.
Veterinarian Dr. Richard Knavel says, "Some dogs particularly the young dogs have more of a problem. They're the ones that tend to get into things like that." Vets say that's very dangerous especially because puppies weigh less-- it takes less mulch to poison them. "Once they start chewing quite a capability of getting a toxic dose."
Here's a breakdown.. for a 50 pound dog. 2 oz's can cause and upset stomach-- a little over 5 ounces can cause a seizure and 9 oz's can cause death.
It would take even less to harm a tiny little puppy. Still the mulch is popular not just because of the pleasant aroma--but because it really makes flowers thrive.
Ray Walylko, of Ray's Nursery says, " A lot of the other mulches draw a lot of nitro in the ground good for trees but for flowers ... this puts nitro right back right away."
So what do avid gardeners with pets think?
"If actually interested I'd refrain from spreading it around too much," says Holly.
Vets fear as the mulch becomes more popular-- there will be more cases of pooch poison. "You can actually smell it-- I wouldn't use it."
www.wjactv.com/news/3295153/detail.html
POSTED: 1:00 a.m. EDT May 12, 2004
Channel 6 New Investigates...... You would never feed your dog a chocolate bar... so why would you put something just as toxic on your garden? More on a special kind of mulch that could poison your pooch.
Holly May is using Cocoa Mulch for the first time. "I liked the smell a lot it definitely has an attractive color too... reds and browns are nice."
But that smell is also attractive to your dogs-- we put the mulch to the test-- this lab didn't seem too interested.
"They didn't seem to mind it. They weren't eating it by the mouthfulls they just wanted to smell and went about their business."
But this puppy is eating up the cocoa mulch-- filled with 2 to 3 times the toxicity of the chocolate found in your milk chocolate candy bar.
Veterinarian Dr. Richard Knavel says, "Some dogs particularly the young dogs have more of a problem. They're the ones that tend to get into things like that." Vets say that's very dangerous especially because puppies weigh less-- it takes less mulch to poison them. "Once they start chewing quite a capability of getting a toxic dose."
Here's a breakdown.. for a 50 pound dog. 2 oz's can cause and upset stomach-- a little over 5 ounces can cause a seizure and 9 oz's can cause death.
It would take even less to harm a tiny little puppy. Still the mulch is popular not just because of the pleasant aroma--but because it really makes flowers thrive.
Ray Walylko, of Ray's Nursery says, " A lot of the other mulches draw a lot of nitro in the ground good for trees but for flowers ... this puts nitro right back right away."
So what do avid gardeners with pets think?
"If actually interested I'd refrain from spreading it around too much," says Holly.
Vets fear as the mulch becomes more popular-- there will be more cases of pooch poison. "You can actually smell it-- I wouldn't use it."
www.wjactv.com/news/3295153/detail.html