Cocoa mulch does have four times the theobromine as a chocolate bar, but
only a fraction of what's in bakers chocolate. Once ounce of Baker's
chocolate could kill a dog. By comparison the cocoa mulch's degree of
danger is slight because a dog would have to be neurotic to eat enough
mulch to get more than mildly ill.

The often repeated baseless data that 2 to 5 ounces of cocoa mulch can
kill an average sized dog is false, & was generated by PETA & widely
distributed during a political campaign against Foreman's & Home Depot.
PETA simultaneously alleged that cocoa mulch kills cats, which is
impossible. The 5 ounce measure has often been repeated since, but an
independent analysis done by University of Illinois professors Wiesbrook
& Gwaltney-Brant said it would take 12 ounces to kill a dog, & even that
is an estimate that sought to err on the side of caution.

A lethal dose of theobromine from milk chocolate candy would require a dog
in the 50 to 65 pound range to eat FOUR POUNDS to reach a toxic level.
This is why no child ever killed its dog sharing one little piece of
chocolate, unwise though that sharing may be. Cocoa mulch has four times
the theobromine of milk chocolate, therefore it is easy to speculate that
one pound of mulch would be just as toxic to the dog -- if only you can
convince the dog to eat a pound of shells with so great an ease as you
might get it to eat a chocolate bar. Only a neurotic dog would get so
far, so the "fact" in this case is that a very unhappy miserable dog with
neurotic behaviors including devouring cocoa mulch just might kill
itself.

But there is no question that dogs have presented to veterinarians with
cocoa mulch poisoning, though outright deaths are extremely rare. Deaths
are extremely common for dogs that got into pastries or fudge made from
pure Bakers chocolate, however.

If a large dog could manage to stomach between twelve ounces & a pound of
cocoa mulch, it probably would die. That much is true. Pile up that much
of the stuff & then try to imagine any dog finishing it off! *What are
the serious odds of a dog eating three-quarters of a pound to a pound of
such lightweight stuff at a go? We're talking about a threat to dogs that
are already psychologically damaged, not to well-adjusted dogs.

-paghat the ratgirl
--
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