Please tell every dog or cat owner you know. Even  if you don’t have a pet, please pass this to those who do.

Over the weekend,  the doting owner of two young lab mixes purchased Cocoa Mulch from  Target to use in their garden. The dogs loved the way it smelled and  it was advertised to keep cats away from their garden. Their dog  (Calypso) decided the mulch smelled good enough to eat and devoured  a large helping.  She vomited a few times which was typical  when she eats something new but wasn’t acting lethargic in any way.   The next day, Mum woke up and took Calypso out for her morning  walk. Halfway through the walk, she had a seizure and died  instantly.

Although the mulch had NO warnings printed  on the label, upon further investigation on the company’s web  site,

This product is HIGHLY TOXIC to dogs and  cats.

Cocoa Mulch is  manufactured by Hershey ’s, and they claim that “It is true that  studies have shown that 50% of the dogs that eat Cocoa Mulch can  suffer physical harm to a variety of degrees (depending on each  individual dog).  However, 98% of all dogs won’t eat it.”

Snopes.com site gives the  following information (click here for more):

Cocoa Mulch contains a lethal ingredient called  ‘Theobromine’. It is lethal to dogs and cats. It smells like  chocolate and it really attracts dogs. They will ingest this stuff  and die. Several deaths already occurred in the last 2-3  weeks.

Theobromine is in all chocolate, especially dark or  baker’s chocolate which is toxic to dogs. Cocoa bean shells contain  potentially toxic quantities of theobromine, a xanthine compound  similar in effects to caffeine and theophylline.  A dog that  ingested a lethal quantity of garden mulch made from cocoa bean  shells developed severe convulsions and died 17 hours later.  Analysis of the stomach contents and the ingested cacao bean shells  revealed the presence of lethal amounts of theobromine.

**PLEASE  PASS  THIS  ON**

there is a bit of a scare going around Gauteng with regards to rabies. Someone in our group has heard of 2 confirmed cases in the past week (near Krugersdorp).

Because of this, we are now INSISTING on all beagles to BRING their UP TO DATE VACCINATION CERTIFICATE to the JHB hunts. Especially with the larger than normal amount of fights we have been having at the hunts.

We will be implementing a “No Certificate – No Hunt policy” … please be very aware of this, and make sure all your pets are up to date with their vaccinations.

There was an article in the Sowetan about it and here is an article off

www.nicd.ac.za/pubs/communique/communique.htm

Rabies alert

Rabies was confirmed this month in two domestic dogs from separate households in Witpoortjie, an established suburb on the West Rand of Gauteng Province. One of the dogs had received a single dose of rabies vaccine as a young puppy. Neither dog had left the area prior to developing rabies. Both cases were characterised as the canid biotype of rabies virus. The source of the rabies remains unclear, but may be due to contact with a stray rabies-infected dog or undisclosed travel. While no definite human exposures were identified, a course of rabies vaccination was given to two household family members with possible category 2 exposures. An intensive dog vaccination campaign was launched by the Department of Agriculture Forestry and Fisheries. A similar incident occurred in 2009 when rabies was confirmed in a domestic dog in the Johannesburg suburb of Linden. While rabies in domestic animals in suburban areas of Johannesburg is very uncommon, these incidents highlight two important points: the need to consider rabies as a differential diagnosis in the appropriate clinical setting, as well as rabies post-exposure prophylaxis (PEP) for the management of all persons with animal exposures. PEP is especially important if the exposure is un¬provoked, the animal is a stray, the animal is ill or aggressive, or if the animal originates from an area where rabies is common. Thorough wound cleaning is critical, and PEP (with a course of rabies vaccine and rabies immunoglobulin into the wound) according to the national guidelines may be life-saving.

There has been a total of 6 laboratory-confirmed human rabies cases in South Africa for 2010 to date. These cases originate from Mpumalanga (n=1); KwaZulu-Natal (n=1), Eastern Cape (n=1) and Limpopo (n=3) provinces.
Source: Special Pathogens and Outbreak Response Units, NICD; Gauteng Department of Agriculture

Hi Everyone!

For the last week or two, we have been trying to get hold of Frontline in bulk to sell at a discounted price. Raymond has managed to find the supplier and given us a really good price on Frontline.

PLEASE NOTE: these prices are for the JHB Hunts only and are for collection AT THE HUNTS. If we have to post them, we will need to add on postage costs and you will end up paying the same as at a pet shop.

“FRONTLINE Plus offers long-lasting  flea and tick control, killing up to 100% of fleas on your pet within 18 hours  and up to 100% of ticks on your pet within 48 hours .

Best of all, research confirms that FRONTLINE products work for an entire month to help keep your pet flea-free!”

Read more on http://frontline.us.merial.com/home/

You can buy Frontline in all pet shops, but is quite expensive, and it is an absolute necessity to use on your pets, even if they do not come to field days, they are still in danger of picking up ticks. One of the major carriers of ticks is birds – particularly Hadidas.

Below are the prices for Frontline from Beagles.co.za – the prices in brackets are the normal selling prices in pet shops. I have listed the price for small, medium and large dogs. Beagles would need the medium size, but if you have other size dogs in your family, please protect them too! These prices are for SINGLE APPLICATION TUBES. You need to use one tube per dog per month… at least 3 days after a bath, and at least 3 days before a bath.

Size of Dog                Price                 normally sells for

0-10 kg ………………………… R 40.00…………………… (R 57.00)

10kg – 20 kg ………………R 55.00…………………… (R 75.00)

20kg – 40kg……………………R 70.00…………………….(R 98.00)

40kg – 60kg……………………R 75.00…………………….(not sure of this retail price)

YOU NEED TO ORDER VIA EMAIL (click here to mail me) TO ENSURE WE ORDER ENOUGH UNITS!  If you would like to place an order, please let me know which size you need, and how many you want.

Always remember to give your beagles a once over after the hunts, just to check for any ticks that might have latched onto them. Remember to check inside their ears too!

If you are not going to be able to use Frontline on your dogs before this hunt, please check them VERY CAREFULLY when you get home, and make a plan to get them some Frontline before the next hunt.
Guarding against ticks is something a lot of people tend to forget about, but it is very important to keep our beagles safe from anything that could cause them (and us) to get sick.