ARTICLE: Pet Toy Safety: Just How Safe Are Some of Those Pet Toys?

First Published at Bubblews~April 11, 2014

Bubblews Article

Image source~Internet images of Typical Pet Toys

ABSTRACT: If one has a pet, one should be a conscientious consumer about some of the potential hazards that can exist in some pet toys especially pet toys made in China.

CONTENT:

If you're a pet owner, no doubt you pamper your pet with a variety of cute toys that will allow your cat(s) or dog(s) a chance for them to play and perhaps even give them exercise, but just how safe are some of those toys? My question came to mind as I've been seeing a good number of my on-line friends talk about buying the seemingly new pet toy craze: that is the Crinkle Ball Toy. But my question of safety factors for pet toys isn't limited to the Crinkle Ball, but other pet toys as well.

One of the real problems as I see it, while one may hear of numerous recalls for products targeted for children on TV media news, one will rarely hear of recalls for products for pets. We are also more aware of foods for human consumption that are recalled, but with a few exceptions, we hardly ever hear of any massive pet food recalls. To be knowledgeable of recalls of any kind of pet products, be it toys or food, one has to turn to the internet.

Think of all the children's products that have been recalled in the past few years of toys found containing lead paint to a good number of strollers that have had defects in them. There is a seemingly common denominator and factor involved when it comes to products made for both children and pets, and that is the vast majority of them are made in China where safety standards are less diligent.

Now let me to explore and bring up some issues and concerns about pet toys.

Back in 2008, I very vividly remember hearing the story about a dog owner who had bought a popular chew toy, called the Pimple Ball With Bell and made Four Paws, Inc. While playing with this ball, somehow the dog's tongue got caught into the hole of the ball and despite efforts for the owner to remove the ball, the owner wasn't able to as the dog's tongue quickly became swollen. The owner took the dog to a vet to have the ball removed, however, even with the ball surgically removed, the dog's tongue continued to swell and the tongue eventually had to be amputated. You can read the whole story here.

One very popular toy for cats is known as the Lattice Plastic Ball with a Jingle Bell. Many years ago as a treat for my cats around Christmas time I bought a large Christmas stocking filled with a variety of cat toys, one of them being a few of those Lattice type balls. I refrained from giving my cats this type of toy as right away I saw a potential hazard. The lattice plastic part of the ball was rather flimsy and could easily be broken. I also saw a potential danger of that jingle bell, that if the plastic part of the ball was broken, a cat could possibly swallow that jingle bell, not to mention the plastic part of that ball as well. What did I do? Simple, I threw them all out.

Before I go on, I wish to mention something about those jingle bells. A pet owner may notice that those small jingle type bells seem to appear in or on a lot of pet toys. I suppose the idea behind having them included is to attract the attention of the pet, but in my mind they should be eliminated as there is too much of a risk of that jingle bell being accidentally swallowed by a pet. A good while ago, I had bought a mouse-shaped toy filled with catnip. Dangling from the tail part which was made out of string was, yes, a jingle bell. Not only did I cut off the bell, but the tail part of the toy. My advice then that if you do get a pet toy that has one of those shiny metal jingle bells is to cut them off!

Feather toys also seem to be popular for pets however, I question the safety factor of these toys as well. Yes some of those feather toys are "cute" and often brightly colored to attract the attention of a pet. However feathers are easily torn apart, and there is the risk of the feather being swallowed, and what about the safety factor of the dyes used to make those feathers so colorful? I mention the later as I often have made crafts that call for feathers, usually the "marabou" type of feathers, and yes they are brightly dyed. In handling the feathers that are dyed red, blue or yellow, some of the dye comes off on my hands. Needless to say, I keep the feathers I use for my crafts sealed up and stored in a container so there's no potential of my cats getting to those feathers.

Beware of any pet toys that are made of "fur", yes real fur. Some years ago I bought a mini-condo for my two cats. With the condo was a mouse shaped toy and yes made of real fur, not only that, but the fur was dyed a sickly orange color. The irony of any pet toy made out of fur is that it can be made from any type of fur bearing animal such as rabbits, but more horrifying believe it or not, possibly made from dog or cat fur from the Chinese fur trade where cats and dogs are skinned alive. If you don't believe me, google "Cats and Dogs Skinned Alive In China"; it will absolutely repulse you.

Rawhide Dog Chew toys can also be suspect in their safety factor as well since many are treated with a whole array of toxic chemicals, including FD&C Red 40, which is a known carcinogen, sodium benzoate, arsenic, formaldehyde. Chemical "concoctions" isn't limited to rawhide type dog chews, but two years ago a toy called Snuggling Furry Friend, and sold by Petco also contained Trimethyl Benzene, Arsenic, Cadmium, Lead and Naphthalene. One can read more about rawhide dog chew toys and about the Snuggling Furry Friend toys in the articles I provide in my Sources section.

Now to discuss those Crinkle Ball Toys which I've been wondering about for awhile and are increasingly becoming more popular. All those Crinkle Ball Toys are made from Mylar which is a shiny plastic. I can't help thinking that such plastic I can be easily ripped apart when a cat plays with them and perhaps chews on them, so once again here we have a potential choking hazard. Also, these Crinkle Balls come in a bright, dazzling array of colors to make them more attractive; attractive for whom I don't know, certainly not the pet but more for the owner. I went on a search to see if anything has yet been mentioned about the safety factor of these Crinkle Ball Toys and came across a posting by a cat owner on the Pet360 website. The owner mentions how when one of these Crinkle Ball Toys fell into her cat's water bowl, the water had turned red from the dye of the ball. She then suspects that her cat drank this water laced with the red dye from the toy as she found vomit nearby the water dish.You can read the entire posting here: http://community.pet360.com/t5/Whole-Cat-Health-Wellness/Are-Crinkle-Ball-Toys-Safe-For-Cats-Or-Not/td-p/45091

So what is a pet owner to do? Naturally we want to pamper our pets with toys for them to play with. But for the safety of your pet, refrain from buying pet toys made in China where standards and quality of materials used are suspect. Do some research in buying toys for your pets. There are plenty of pet toy manufacturers right here in the USA. To find such toys, google "Natural or Organic Pet Toys" and you'll be surprised by how many websites come up. One of my favorite natural toys to buy for my cats are anyone of the products made by Yeowww and a lot are sold over at Amazon.com.

Lastly, your pets are your "children", don't you want them to be safe? All I can say is to be a conscientious consumer. Research, research, research!

Sources:

Dog Chew Toy

http://consumerist.com/2008/08/21/owner-calls-for-chew-toy-recall-after-dogs-injury-results-in-tongue-amputation/

Rawhide Chew Toys

http://philadelphia.cbslocal.com/2013/03/07/the-risk-of-rawhide-chew-toys/

http://www.humanesociety.org/animals/dogs/tips/dog_toys.html

Dog Toys

http://thebark.com/content/beware-lead-and-toxic-dog-toys

http://www.petsitusa.com/blog/?p=4843

Crinkle Toys

http://community.pet360.com/t5/Whole-Cat-Health-Wellness/Are-Crinkle-Ball-Toys-Safe-For-Cats-Or-Not/td-p/45091

Massive Recall of Children's Toys From China Due to Lead

http://www.nbcnews.com/id/20254745/ns/business-consumer_news/t/mattel-issues-new-massive-china-toy-recall/#.U0iVpaVsr1w

Natural or Organic USA Made Pet Toys:

Purrfect Play Website:
http://purrfectplay.com

Only Natural Pet:
http://www.onlynaturalpet.com/dogs/

Image Source~My own photo of a Yeowwwy Catnip Toy

ARTICLE: Toxic Pet Toys: New Dangers for Pets: What Pet Owners Should Know About Pet Toys

(Originally published at Yahoo.voices formerly Associated Content~1/15/2009)

ABSTRACT: While many pet owners love to pamper their pets by buying pet toys, they may be endangering their pet due to toxic substances in the toys.

CONTENT: Many people might remember that during 2008, there were massive recalls of brand name toys for children, many under the Mattel label, a major United States based toy company, but where most were actually manufactured in China. Not only were major brand named toys but any children's toy made in China, and the reason? Very high levels of lead paint were found in these toys.

People might also recollect the major pet food recalls than began during the year 2007, in which it was discovered that the wheat gluten supplied and exported out of China was contaminated, and the wheat gluten was one of the prime ingredients in many pet foods, both for dogs and cats, and most manufactured under the Menu company. There is no estimate as to how many pets were unfortunately affected by this contaminated food, some think in the thousands, where many pets died as a result.

Now comes another danger to our pets, and that is toxic pet toys, yet unfortunately in this case, and I don't have clue as to why not, but no major recalls have been issued yet or made for pet toys, and also, even with this knowledge, standards have not been set for testing the safety of pet toys in general. As you can guess, it was discovered that many pet toys, whether major known brands, or the cheap inexpensive ones sold in dollar stores are made in China, and yes contain very high levels lead paint and other toxic materials.

The average pet owner may be wary of giving their beloved pet a toy that might be easily breakable, such as a plastic toy since one good bite down on that toy may cause it to break and pieces of the plastic could be accidently swallowed by the pet causing the pet to choke to death. Nor would the average pet owner give a toy that might have one of those small jingle type bells for the very same reason that the pet could swallow it and choke. I'm always a stickler for cutting off those bells and simply tossing it in the garbage. Yet, while many pet owners are cautious about these such toys, none think of the potential hazard they may be posing when giving their pets a painted pet toy.

What's really alarming though is that the suspicion that the majority of pet toys may be toxic is not exactly a new one, as I discovered when I came across an article dated October 4, 2007 from the Consumers Affairs.com Website where not only high levels of lead were found, but cadmium and other toxic materials. Since this knowledge was known, and written up on the ConsumerAffairs Website more than a year ago, why hasn't the public been made aware of this danger sooner?

The danger lies, as you can guess, is that while pets are playing with these toys, they often have them in their mouths where they are being exposed to perhaps not only lead paint, but a whole host of other known toxic materials and substances. One alarming fact is that the so-called safety standards set up for pet toys are similar to the standards and guidelines for children. And while, yes, many pet owners view their pets like children, they aren't. Their biological system is completely different and more sensitive than that of a child and therefore, what might not completely pose a threat to a child, will to a pet. Also, until just very recently, pet toys weren't even being tested at all for their safety factors. This could pose a hazard therefore to very young children, since the amount of toxic materials in pet toys may in fact be significantly higher than potential toxic hazards in children's toys, The danger lies then when a very young child is innocently playing with the family pet while that pet is playing with the toy, and that child may grab for the toy and put it in their own mouth.

Pet toys that are obviously painted, and have the potential of lead paint being used are not the only pet toys that could be downright dangerous to a pets health. This is especially true when it comes to those familiar rawhide chew toys for dogs. The danger with these toys is that rawhide is treated with the cancer causing agent, formaldehyde. What really surprised me however, was that in a recent testing by ExperTox Inc. Analytical Laboratory of those familiar cloth-type catnip toys for cats, the test results showed very high levels of the carcinogen chromium.(1)

While all pet toys have the potential of being harmful, the worse, according to the ExperTox Inc. Analytical Laboratory were those that were sold in Walmart, under their label and clearly shows that they are made in China. (2) However, until better standards are set for the safety of pet toys, I would be suspicious of any pet toy or pet product made in China, including painted ceramic bowls which also showed having extreme levels of lead paint toxicity.

So what is a pet owner to do? We love our pets, we want to pamper them a bit and think we're doing them a favor by buying those pet toys. Well one idea could be to make your own pet toys. I've done this for my cats, making my own catnip toys for them. I simply cut two small pieces of cotton fabric, such as from a tee-shirt, sew it up a bit, leaving a bit of an opening, then stuff it with catnip, then sew the remainder up. Believe me your cat isn't going to be fussy or notice that their "toy" isn't shaped into a cute mouse shape.

Also, should you still insist on buying your pet any product, not just toys, on the bottom of the Green Living Journal Website are links to pet friendly websites that sell safe, non-toxic toys of which I also provide the links to.

Articles about toxic pet toys

ConsumersAffairs.com Article #1

ConsumersAffairs.com Article #2 (1) (2)

GreenLiving Journal

Safe Pet Product Websites Including Toys

Ecoanimal.com

SimplyFido.com

EarthDog.com

Westpawdesign.com