Green Dog Blog

Christine is a guest blogger for RetireUSA – here’s the latest post : http://retireusa.net/blog/fence-me-in/

I covered this a few years back, but it seems lots of people are forwarding us the warnings about cocoa mulch, and I thought it was definitely worthy of a blog post.

There is a mulch sold by garden stores that is made from cocoa bean shells.  It really does look good, has a lovely fine texture and smells fantastic, just like chocolate. The trouble is, just like chocolate, it contains both caffeine and the chemical that is toxic to dogs called theobromine. Though deaths from eating cocoa mulch are not widely reported, there have been a number of cases of dogs becoming ill from ingesting it. Symptoms include vomiting and diarrhea, hyperactivity, rapid heart rate, muscle seizures, and possibly death. The concentration of theobromine in the mulch is actually quite high, making it more dangerous than something like milk chocolate, and since it does smell so delicious, there is a risk that some dogs might eat it.  So, if you have an indiscriminate eater, try to be vigilant on walks if you see your dog really nosing around a mulched area.  If you really want to use cocoa mulch, look for a variety that states that it is theobromine free (though it still might contain caffeine, which could also be harmful to pets), or just consider some of the old favorites like tree bark.

(photo borrowed from the ASPCA website)

I wrote this up a while back for a nutrition lecture I was giving, and I thought it might be useful to post it somewhere for more people to use. These are some of our favorite resources for people to use when trying to educate themselves about their pets.
- Christine

Resources:

Excellent Link for Dog Nutrition (though cat folks can definitely glean some knowledge here too:  www.dogaware.com The woman who compiles this site has encyclopedic knowledge about diet and nutrition for dogs and writes a lot of the food articles in The Whole Dog Journal.
Key links on her site that might be useful to you:
Lots of links to common health problems in dogs
http://www.dogaware.com/specific.html
including a ton of info on kidney disease and diet, specifically a lot about protein and its relationship to kidney disease: http://www.dogaware.com/kidney.html#protein

there are a lot of good articles that she wrote for Whole Dog Journal on home cooking: http://www.dogaware.com/diet/homemade.html

Sites online specifically for cats:
Holisticat (includes an email list)
CatNutrition.org: feeding cats for health
Making Cat Food (from a vet) great site all around with some good tips about transitioning a picky cat’s diet
How to Prepare Fresh Cat Food (technical but very complete)
The Feline Future Cat Food Company (Instincts TC) – a mix to which you add your own meat. I don’t carry it but it seems great. Good answers to peoples’ questions on this site about raw foods. (more…)

I just read a great article on Itchmo – a blog I check frequently for interesting pet stories. The author did some good research on some of the opportunities out there for people who need financial help with their vet bills. If you or someone you know is in need of help, or even just interested in helping organizations like these to raise funds for low income pet owners in need,check out this link: News for cats and dogs – Help for Low-Income Pets

Here’s a good link with a pretty complete list of tips for traveling with pets by air, car, etc.

The Ultimate Guide for Traveling with Pets