There was an article in the Sunday section of the Tribune today about how to act what/what say etc. if you are visiting friends or family with pets if you are not an “animal person”. It said to score points bring a biscuit or dog safe toy. It went on to caution against a stuffed toy meant for children because the stuffing when ingested can poison a dog!! So I did a little research and it turns out that if the stuffing was treated with anti-flame and/or anti-fungal chemicals and the dog swallows the stuffing it becomes gelatinous in the stomach and intestine and kills the tissue. There was a vet that confirmed opening up a dog that had eaten stuffing from a baby toy and the intestine was black and dead and the dog could not be saved.
Maybe a rare thing, maybe the dog had some other underlying problem…but I am not taking chances. My kids kill the stuffies and pull the stuffing out all the time! So no more human kid toys for my furkids!
Also if anyone is frugal and buys stuffing to refill and sew up the mangled stuffies, make sure you are not buying chemically treated stuffing!
Here’s a few links on the subject.
http://www.snopes.com/critters/crusader/stuffedtoys.asp
http://www.examiner.com/pet-health-in-philadelphia/children-s-stuffed-animal-toys-can-be-fatal-to-your-pets
Thanks for the info Ann! Good to know!
Doogan does like to sneak into our grand-kids bedroom and steal their stuffed animals when they are here but so far, he just likes to carry them around and present them to everyone! But ya never know!
Wish I could take credit for this, but I just passed it on. And I am feeling very lucky that none of my dogs ate stuffing from kid’s toys, even though they played with them. Hassle loved his singing Frosty the Snowman–he got three repeats every morning until the poor thing expired.
oh shoot, I have a lot of stuff toys (I have a 2 year old!). I guess it’s time to put them away. Thanks for this post!