Dog Toy Danger

Dog toy danger. Being aware will help avoid a major emergency. We had such an emergency last year with Kelsey, our Sheltie, and it brings me to writing this section to get it out there to you.



Let’s start with rawhide, the culprit in Kelsey’s situation. This chewing favorite is great, all our dogs were rawhide lovers, but there is a risk. Some dogs just chew; others gobble and swallow pieces large and small.

Kelsey swallowed a large chunk and it got trapped in his throat and later wound up blocking the opening from his stomach into the intestines.

He kept trying to throw it up, became severely dehydrated, toxic and rushed to the emergency hospital. We almost lost him. Two surgeries, thousands of dollars and weeks later, we were able to bring him home (he is recovering slowly). No more rawhide in our house.

If you do feed the chews to your dog, use only natural rawhide, not man made. The natural rawhide is made to break down and digest. However, it can cause problems as well.

Man made takes a much longer time and is harder to get through the system. Also the size of the chew should be in relation to the size of your dog.

Keep an eye on your pet. If the piece gets too small, throw it away. If big chunks are being torn off and eaten, take it away for awhile and give it back later.

The best precaution is not to give rawhide at all. There are other chewing products available that break apart into very small pieces for easy swallowing and digestion. Teeth cleaning sticks and such come to mind.

Next problem toy type is thin rubber, vinyl or plastic products, especially with squeakers.

Dogs love to chew and ripping this toy apart and swallowing it can cause the same problem as with rawhide.

Purchase products that are made of heavy duty rubber or canvas. Avoid toys with tails, “eyes” of plastic, and material that is easy to chew a hole in and eat the stuffing. This is difficult since most toys have all of the above.

Always keep a close watch on your pet while playing to make sure they don’t tear apart and eat their toys.

Tennis balls are a popular toy for throwing and chewing. I’ve heard horror stories about these products as well causing blockages and death.

When you are buying dog toys, make sure they are made for dogs and that they are sturdy enough for rough play and chewing. Read the packaging and decide accordingly. Avoiding dog toy danger in the beginning can save you problems later on.

Please supervise your dog if you do give him rawhide chews and bones. We don't want you to go through what we did all because of a piece of rawhide.