Nestle Acquisition of Ralston Purina Approved

The United States Federal Trade Commission has approved the more than $10 billion acquisition by Nestle of Ralston Purina, the largest pet food producer in the United States.
http://www.anc.org/pets/pets_article.cfm? identifier=2002_0110_acquisi...

- Animal News Center Webmaster

Does this mean chocolate dog food? Oh, wait - that can be lethal, can't it!

But I am sure the marketing department could find a way to spin that. . .

There *must* be some chocolate 'flavoring' that is *not* harmful to dogs. I have had a chocolate flavored nylabone before. But now I would rather *not* get my dogs craving the taste of chocolate. That could be a disaster!!!

From what I understand it's mainly small dogs that are at great risk - unless the dog ingests some really huge quantity or gets into the baking chocolate in your kitchen cabinet.

Here's what's posted at Vetcentric:
http://www.vetcentric.com/reference/displayFAQ.cfm? ARTICLE=Why%20is%2... olate%20bad%20for%20dogs%3F

VetCentric - Why is chocolate bad for dogs?

I know Three Dog Bakery and other places that make specialty dog bones have Carob bones, which is a substitute flavor for chocolate. Many people use it who are allergic to chocolate and its in Health Food Stores.

Yup, dog size and quality of chocolate are important.

Here are a couple of good links: http://vin.com/mainpub/xmas/chocolate_tox.asp http://hersheys.com/nutrition_consumer/ theobromine.shtml

The second one is really good; a candy manufacturer pointing out the negative qualities of their products.