Toy Warning

[Patty]

I'm not sure where this belongs but this post seems the most applicable> Apologies if it's in the wrong place but it seems an important warning -

Thank you to Gail Gwesyn-Pryce for forwarding this on:
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.

[nobarkus]

@Patty:

I'm not sure where this belongs but this post seems the most applicable> Apologies if it's in the wrong place but it seems an important warning -

Thank you to Gail Gwesyn-Pryce for forwarding this on:
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.

I posted this warning as well.
http://www.basenjiforums.com/showthread.php?t=8891

[Kipawa]

I think this is why people are getting VERY PICKY about what they buy for dogs, children, cats, etc. Reading labels is becoming very important. You can also keep track of where items are made by checking the 'country code' that appears at the beginning of the bar code. Here are some of the more common ones:

00 ~ 13 USA & CANADA
30 ~ 37 FRANCE
40 ~ 44 GERMANY
49 ~ JAPAN
50 ~ UK
57 ~ Denmark
64 ~ Finland
76 ~ Switzerland and Lienchtenstein
628 ~ Saudi-Arabian
629 ~ United Arab Emirates
671 – Taiwan
690 – 695 – China
740 ~ 745 - Central America
All 480 Codes are Made in the Philippines

[starrlamia]

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

[Kipawa]

Oh my goodness, what ARE we to believe these days. :( I had never heard of the website Snopes. I guess now I will check it out before I believe anything? Sad state of the world. Sigh.

[Patty]

Sorry, Nobarkus, I missed your post somehow, I'd been away and never caught up with all that was happening on the forum. However as someone who has always brought my toys from charity shops, it has got me scared! I must say once they start to shred them I do always throw them away.

[Kipawa]

Trust me - any toy that is super shredded is a hazard. Our ****atoos are given these huge rope toys (millions of strings twisted together) that they love to work at. About 15 or so years ago, Sophie, our female, got her toe nail stuck in some of the threads and wound up thrashing around in the cage. Her hubby Oscar probably just watched. Sophie lost a few big feathers before I heard the kafuffle and helped her. The whole incident was scary and could have turned out a lot worse.

[NerdyDogOwner]

@Kipawa:

I think this is why people are getting VERY PICKY about what they buy for dogs, children, cats, etc. Reading labels is becoming very important. You can also keep track of where items are made by checking the 'country code' that appears at the beginning of the bar code. Here are some of the more common ones:

00 ~ 13 USA & CANADA
30 ~ 37 FRANCE
40 ~ 44 GERMANY
49 ~ JAPAN
50 ~ UK
57 ~ Denmark
64 ~ Finland
76 ~ Switzerland and Lienchtenstein
628 ~ Saudi-Arabian
629 ~ United Arab Emirates
671 ? Taiwan
690 ? 695 ? China
740 ~ 745 - Central America
All 480 Codes are Made in the Philippines

How does that help when we don't know where the toy with this "chemical pack" is made? Or if it's just a manufacturer thing.

I am pretty sure IKEA toys are safe, that where I get Gizmos stuffed toys. They aslo seem to be the strongest stuffed toys.

[Kipawa]

True enough, NerdyDogOwner - items (toys) that might be stuffed in the U.S. could be using product inside from … say... China (no offense intended in naming China, folks).

The codes can be handy if there is no indication of country of origin.

[agilebasenji]

I have found, with treats anyway, if it is made in the USA, that will be stated in HUGE BOLDFACED letters on the front of the package. If the treats are made in China that will be stated in tiny little letters in an obsure place on the back of the package.