Professional Pet Sitting

Horse Trailer Safety Checklist

Hauling your horse down the highway? Check these eight vital pieces of trailer equipment and don’t leave home without these 10 items.

Don't leave home without:

• Extra halter and lead rope for each horse, for off-loading in an emergency.
• Emergency flares and reflector triangles.
• Flashlight (rechargeable, with an adapter that fits vehicle cigarette lighter).
• Jumper cables and spare fuses.
• Spare tires, jack, chock blocks, torque wrench, and WD-40 for changing tires.
• Tool kit-crowbar, hammer, screwdrivers, wrenches, pliers.
• Duct tape, for covering sharp edges in a damaged trailer and other uses.
• Fire extinguisher. (Make sure it's pressurized.)
• Horse and human first-aid kits.
• Cell phone and phone numbers.

This warning was posted in the Southern Animal Rescue Association (SARA) newsletter. Since many of us garden and mulch is highly recommended for our hot climate, this piece should be of interest to all pet owners who garden and are contemplating using cocoa mulch.

Cocoa mulch, which is sold by Home Depot, Foremen's Garden and Supply and other garden supply stores, 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 recently. Just a word of caution -- check what you are using in your gardens and be aware of what your gardeners are using in your gardens. Theobromine is the ingredient that is used to make all chocolate -- especially dark or baker's chocolate -- which is toxic to dogs. Cacao bean shells contain potentially toxic quantities of Theobromine, a Xanthine compound similar in effect to caffeine and Theophylline. A dog that ingested a lethal quantity of garden mulch made from cacao bean shells develops 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. So please be cautious in what type of mulch you are using.