NEW YORK September 22, 2003 -- The American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ASPCA) will be celebrating October as Adopt-a-Shelter-Dog Month to encourage Americans to visit their local animal shelter if they are looking for their perfect four-legged match. Each year millions of dogs enter our nation's shelters, yet of the approximately 60 million owned dogs in this country, less than 20 percent were adopted from shelters.

NEW YORK October 8, 2003 -- In response to increasing reports of dogs consuming cocoa bean shell mulch fertilizer, a retrospective examination of case data collected from January 2002 to April 2003 was conducted by the ASPCA Animal Poison Control Center. The study concluded that dogs consuming cocoa bean shell mulch fertilizer may become ill, exhibiting signs consistent with methylxanthine toxicosis, which is similar to those seen with chocolate poisonings. The data suggests the most common signs that occurred following ingestion were vomiting and muscle tremors. Although it was not possible to quantify exact oral dosage amounts, the severity of clinical signs did appear to increase with the larger amounts anecdotally reported. "Since the updated data confirms that dogs can exhibit certain clinical effects after consuming cocoa bean shell mulch fertilizer, the ASPCA advises pet owners that they should avoid using this fertilizer around unsupervised dogs, and dogs with indiscriminate eating habits," comments Dr. Steven Hansen, Senior Vice President of the ASPCA Animal Poison Control Center.