Kong warning
I just thought I'd pass this on for those of us who have serious chewers.
My dad has a friend with a young Brittany (I believe around 2 years old). The dog started acting funny; barking in the middle of the night, restless, clearly uncomfortable. They took her to the vet who said she had some GI discomfort, found not much wrong and gave her some medications. She did not improve so they took her to the referral vet.
They found a partial obstruction and several thousand dollars in surgery later, found the problem: the rounded top-part of a Kong, destroyed some significant time earlier, had wedged in her intestine somewhere.
They had found the partially destroyed Kong and removed it, but did not think much else of it as the dog seemed fine at the time.
So two warnings here: Contrary to the conventional wisdom, Kongs are not indestructible. Maddie has chewed off and swallowed a hunk of one, my sister has a dog who can take apart a Kong in very short order, and now this dog. And second warning: the hunk of rubber can sit in the stomach for some time before moving on and getting stuck.
Maddie once vomited a hunk of rubber from a toy we had thrown out long before; it had become spongy and must have sat in her belly for ages before her body decided it was never going to digest and she threw it up.
Now that we have a confirmed chewer, there are very few toys we leave the dogs with unsupervised (and Jack has learned to go bark at the laundry room door---where the toys are locked--- if there is a particular toy he wants to play with).
Just thought I'd pass it on as I know Kongs are recommended as "safe" to leave with dogs who are heavy chewers.
Replies to This Discussion
-
Permalink Reply by Melissa and Franklin! on
-
The kennel dogs at my school destroy the black "indestructable" kongs like they are paper. Definitely a toy that should be used under supervision if you know you have a heavy chewer. Luckily Franklin still hasn't managed to even come close to destroying his puppy Kong from 2 years ago! He's a bit of a wimp :-). A good toy for a super destructive chewer are those huge thick rubber bones that Nylabone makes and I believe Zanies also makes a similar one,they are soft enough not to break teeth but still very sturdy. While the dogs can still destroy them, it takes A LONG time. Even our huge pit/rott mix that we had at our kennel could only chew off tiny pieces of those rubber bones, nothing that even came close to being big enough to cause an obstruction. I believe they are the only toys that lasted the entire school year with our 12 dogs, Kongs included.
-
Permalink Reply by Anna Morelli on
-
With serious chewers, no toy is 100% safe unsupervised and sometimes even supervised. My friend, years ago, lost her Alaskan Malamute, after spending $17,000.00 in surgeries and Vet bills, as the dog had ingested, unbeknown to her and several months prior, a piece of a knobby (called dental) Nylabone. She sued the Company that makes Nylabone and the suit was settled out of Court, with an agreement she could not talk about it.... a lot of lawsuits are settled that way.... I use the black Kong and keep an eye on things, and the smooth Nylabones in a large size, and keep an eye on those and rope toys, but I only allow the dogs to play tug of war with each other, or fetch, no hard chewing of them. So you have to know your own individual dog and find your own comfort level, rather than rely on what is printed on the toy package. Any toy that shows signs of wear, should be disposed of. Nylabones should be replaced when worn down, according to instructions. I find the young dogs are much more likely to do heavy chewing when they don't get enough excercise, so I keep that in mind also.... Sorry about your Dad's friend and his Brittany.
-
Permalink Reply by Jane Christensen on
-
I have to say that so far I have had good luck with Kongs but my dogs are not big chewers. I used to buy good rubber toys from JW Pet Company and they aren't as good as they used to be....I wonder if they have gone with a cheaper product as my dogs can now tear up the toys that they could not before:(
-
Permalink Reply by Yuki & Ellie on
-
I agree, no toy is safe with an unsupervised heavy chewer. Yuki can start taking pieces off of a black Kong within minutes of me giving it to him. Nylabones don't fare much better so I don't even bother buying either of them anymore.
I've found that the safest thing for my chewer is to just buy him "toys" that are meant to be chewed and eaten. They're gone within minutes, but at least I know he isn't going to accidentally hurt himself in the process. Nylabone makes an edible chew that Yuki goes nuts over and my mother has always liked giving her dog those chew sticks (which I can't seem to find a good link for.)
-
Permalink Reply by Kari & Quin on
-
bully sticks are good also
-
-
be careful with bully sticks. I've seen several dogs come into the vet I used to work out with obstructions from bully sticks and one dog came in with a chunk of bully stick lodged in its throat. Just another thing to be cautious of.
Rescue Store
Stay Connected
FDA Recall
Canadian Food Inspection Agency Recall
Groups
We support...
Badge
© 2024 Created by Sam Tsang.
Powered by
