Safe Dog Toys

Toy Joy
Looking to stuff your pet’s stockings? Choose gifts that are safe.

• How many of your dog's toys come from China? A quick count through our toy box shows more than 10 - a mixture of plush and plastic dog chew toys.

Until I read an article at ConsumerAffairs.com, I hadn't given too much thought as to whether or not these were safe toys for them to play with.

However, given all the recent health scares about products from China - pet food and treats, children's toys, toothpaste, etc - I should have known that pet toys would be the next item on the item on warning list.

ConsumerAffairs.com randomly chose 4 Chinese-made pet toys from a Wal-Mart store and tested them for the presence of heavy metals and other toxins.

Here is what they found:

• A green latex stuffed toy contained high levels of lead and chromium;
• The same latex toy also showed traces of cadmium, arsenic and mercury;
• A cloth catnip toy tested positive for cadmium; and
• Lesser amounts of cadmium were found in a cloth hedgehog dog toy and a plastic dumbbell toy for cats;
• How much is too much?
  According to Cornell University (in the United States), symptoms of nervous system poisoning appears in dogs and cats when the daily intake of lead is 5 mg/kg of body weight.
  There's no readily available information on Chromium and Cadmium, though it's believed that the intake of these metals has to be higher than lead before they are considered to be toxic.
  Does this mean that the dog toys tested are safe?
  Two veterinarians approached by ConsumerAffairs.com stated that the amounts of lead, chromium and cadmium were too low to pose any health risk to cats and dogs.
  However one of the vets, from Kansas State University's College of Veterinary Medicine, stated that the risk of these heavy metals to pet health depended on how much had been absorbed into the body.
  What do dogs do with toys? They lick and chew them, they don't admire them from a distance!
  What did the tests find - that the toxic materials easily came off the toys, so if a dog does what comes naturally to him, a few licks and a bit of chewing could easily result in your dog quickly absorbing the heavy metals into his body.
  To me, that does not sound safe.
  What's the alternative?
  You can buy toys that aren't made in China and other countries that still use the same old manufacturing processes that China does, and/or you can make your own.
  My puppies get far more fun from chasing an empty plastic milk bottle around the house than from any bought toy - apart from her Kongs (which are manufactured in the United States)!