Toy Warning.

[CorgiMum]

This has been sent to via several emails.......

Last night at agility class, a vet, who is a fellow agility student was telling us about a case she had this week. The dog ate a child's teddy bear and was very sick. When she opened the dog up to remove what she thought was an intestinal obstruction she found a huge gelatin type mess inside and the dogs intestines were black and the tissue dead. The dog will die no surgery can fix him up there was no living intestine left from stomach to colon.

This was not an obstruction. .... so she called the manufacturer of the Teddy Bear on a quest to find out what the gel was and what killed the dog. Turns out the stuffing in children's toys contains ingredients for flame retardants and mite control! It is designed to be come a gel. It is highly toxic. Now you would think a child's toy would be safe because it is for children, but they don't expect a child to eat the stuffing of the toys... huummmm that seems a bit scary too. But we all know dogs demolish stuffed toys.

So do not give or buy your dog any children's stuffed animals... some people get them at goodwill etc. The vet will be posting a warning and story and I will send any other facts as needed and as I learn more. Maybe some children's toys do not have this ingredient, but better to be safe then sorry. So meanwhile, make sure all your dog toys are for dogs. Please pass this on... it is a horrible death she described and one that can be avoided.

[mtoy]

That's HORRIBLE! When Erik was was a baby he'd put lint and toy stuffing in his mouth and suck on it! Not that I let him do it, but kids will find anything you don't want them to find...kind of like dogs. Wow - another thing to worry about. Thanks for the heads-up!

[CorgiMum]

It is scary, and I often went to Value Village to buy stuffed toys for $1.00. I thought that they would be safe for the dogs as long as the the toys didn't have any hard plastic eyes or noses.

[LoveMySadie]

Do you know if this applies to all children's toys? It seems to me that this would be a danger for children too - they've been known to de-stuff toys!

Leslie

[Kassie]

I too received this on a agility list and was going to post when I got home. I also checked snopes and found nothing similar there, so I assume it is true. Scary:SHOCKED:

[Bobbie]

It's been discussed on Snopes.

http://message.snopes.com/showthread.php?p=1186394

I'm pretty sure it is NOT true. My dogs have unstuffed many a toy and they usually have fiberfill. It's possible some kind of beanie baby type toy could turn to a gel; fiberfill doesn't. The message has been around since at least 2000. As one respondent in the above link said, if it turned into a gel, it would happen when you washed it!

[mtoy]

It's been discussed on Snopes.

http://message.snopes.com/showthread.php?p=1186394

I'm pretty sure it is NOT true. My dogs have unstuffed many a toy and they usually have fiberfill. It's possible some kind of beanie baby type toy could turn to a gel; fiberfill doesn't. The message has been around since at least 2000. As one respondent in the above link said, if it turned into a gel, it would happen when you washed it!

Good point about washing them, I do that all the time. (sighing in relief)
Not to say we don't need to be careful, as weird things have shown up in toys from time to time.

[Bobbie]

I should say, though, that fiberfill could certainly cause your dog all kinds of problems even if it doesn't turn to a gel.

[Jespah]

I would wonder about it too. I have seen lots of destuffed kids stuffies and never seen gel.

If nothing, it's still a good reminder to think about what we are giving our dogs and the potential dangers.

Barbara - I've bought tons of $1 stuffies at Goodwill - they've been destroyed and been only fluff. I am very careful about buying anything with beans or those really light beans.

[CorgiMum]

It's been discussed on Snopes.I'm pretty sure it is NOT true.

I hope that it's not true. But all the same, we always need to keep thinking about what we let our dogs put in their mouths. I never give mine, well Danny, anything that is a 'soft toy' unless I can watch him 100%. And I don't have to do it for long, he kills stuffies very quickly!

[~WelshStump~]

Wow, I also hope and don't think its entirely true. I also like to buy my guys cheap kids plush's. This is one of my favorite kind, the large character pillows with no plastic (and as you can see, Enda's fave as well), this one was given to me by a friend of my grandmother, you can pick them up super cheap at yard sales and Salvation army:
http://www.prodoggroomingsupplies.com/dog-forums/picture.php?albumid=651&pictureid=4950

I have had the both of them tear up toys and slim the stuffing but never has it turned to mush. I'm thinking from what was said is supposed to be like those dissolving packing peanuts almost? No, I have never had that before. And also, that Pika has gone through the wash a few times, and never has the stiffing turned to anything! It only "fluffs" in the dryer, making it look bigger.

[Bobbie]

Snopes has now weighed in on it:

http://www.snopes.com/critters/crusader/stuffedtoys.asp

My own comment: anything that is hard to pass can cause an obstruction- it has happened with dogs that ate socks, for example. I don't think toys are more or less dangerous but anything not easily digestible does have the potential to cause a blockage. However some dogs seem to be able to eat anything and everything and NEVER have an issue.

[Jespah]

Interesting. I agree Bobbie, anything that they can ingest that they shouldn't, particularly fabrics, stuffing and other such materials are generally very dangerous as obstructions. Labs seem to be notorious for eating strange things - a neighbour's dog had major surgery after eating a rug. I'll never have a Lab!

[~WelshStump~]

Snopes has now weighed in on it:

http://www.snopes.com/critters/crusader/stuffedtoys.asp

My own comment: anything that is hard to pass can cause an obstruction- it has happened with dogs that ate socks, for example. I don't think toys are more or less dangerous but anything not easily digestible does have the potential to cause a blockage. However some dogs seem to be able to eat anything and everything and NEVER have an issue.
Oh for sure! I'll parrot that. We had a dog on an all-breed forum who at one point bloated and had chronic digestive issue, YET, still managed to poop out several sock in front of his owner over his lifetime! :EEK:

Interesting. I agree Bobbie, anything that they can ingest that they shouldn't, particularly fabrics, stuffing and other such materials are generally very dangerous as obstructions. Labs seem to be notorious for eating strange things - a neighbour's dog had major surgery after eating a rug. I'll never have a Lab!
Oh yeah, most the bird dogs I've found are bad for eating things. As well watch those Pit bulls and Staffy's! I know about several who have gone through a Kong in mins, and was talking a bit ago to a worker at the TSC store whose was on its second or third obstruction surgery.
I must say, I've been VERY happy with Jinjo, the simply pleasure of "taking things apart and investigating every bit" has been great to live with, except when you walk through the little chewed off bits!