Puppy swallowing rubber toy / unscrupulous Pet Store advice?

rok · 11-08-2008 04:04PM #1

Prob a stoopid question but here goes anyway...

I recently purchased a "Natural Rubber" Toy for my labrador retriever puppy from a petstore. It was cheap enough, around €4.
After about a minute or two of my puppy chewing on it bits of the toy began to tear off.
I took the toy from the puppy as I had read on another dog-toy packaging to remove rubber toys if they tear/fragment.
She also has a Kong toy that keeps her busy as we fill with it dog biscuits, she doesnt chew on it, although it might be made of stonger rubber.
I went back to the shop to pick up some more stuff and asked the petstore owner about the dog swallowing rubber, he insisted that it is safe for dogs to swallow rubber, that it would pass through her ok, and she would poo it out.
I was sceptical but in a rush so didnt stay to argue.

After googl'in earlier the general opinion seems to be that dogs swallowing rubber is bad ....
http://www.puppys-place.com/dog-toys.html
The first thing to know is to avoid rubber toys. Always. They are easy to pop, shred and swallow. This can be both harmful and costly. When rubber makes it to the stomach and intestine, it swells and can easily block the digestive tract and cause an obstruction which requires surgery and hospitalization for toxicity due to the inability to void. Rubber toys are always made to look clever, but unless you only give them to her while you play with supervision, they should be avoided.

What do ye think?
I would be disappointed if the Pet Shop owner gave me bad advice that could harm my dog for the sake of refunding me a couple of euros/exchanging the item.

MsFifers · 11-08-2008 04:12PM

I think there should be a standard brought in for pet toys. I've often seen toys for sale with dangerous bits that break off & could choke or cut a pet - eyes on toy mice, and wire bits for their tails for eg.

My cat got his leg tightly entangled in the plastic thread of one of those "fishing rod" toys - it was cutting into him as he struggled to get out from it and only for I heard him crying with the pain he could have seriously damaged himself.

There is no comeback though. Its the old "buyer beware" story.

carwash_2006 · 11-08-2008 04:25PM

One of my dogs used to manage to get hold of all sorts of things when he was younger, he would chew them up and swallow the small pieces. I would take anything off him that I found him with, but he would always quickly swallow anything he was chewing if I tried to take it away, so sometimes I figured it was better to leave him as he always chewed it into small pieces when left alone. I would find the craziest looking poos from time to time.

Anyway, thankfully he never had a problem and has quit the habit now, sticking to the toys he's allowed because they don't break and his treats.

If your dog is a very strong chewer then I would stick to very strong toys for now or chewy treats. Most of the company of animal toys seem to be stronger than average, another tip is always buy the size bigger than you first think as they will generally be a bit harder to demolish.

I always thought that it wasn't too bad if the pieces they swallowed were no bigger than the size of their dry kibble, but I wouldn't take a chance on it since the dogs life could be at risk if this is wrong.

Sigma Force · 11-08-2008 06:40PM

Usually some toys have a warning on the label that say to supervise pets and to remove toys if they become damaged. Tbh there is no such thing as a dog say rubber toy aside from perhaps Kongs or black Kongs however seen on tv a rottie that got himself somehow stuck in a kong.

The only toy that lasts since we got the dogs is the red kong everything else eventualy gets damaged or chewed when the mothers brat of a dog comes down..she's like one of those kids who comes to your house and breaks everything lol.

There are a few dog toys that are very tough but your average Tesco or pet shop or hardware shop rubber toy is pretty easy to destroy including furry teddy toys.

ncmc · 12-08-2008 02:15PM

It is my experience that you have to take a lot of 'advice' that you get in a pet store with an extremely large pinch of salt. A lot of the time you are dealing with people who have no clue whatsoever about animal care and other times, they just want to sell you whatever junk they can.

Case in point, a good few years back, I decided to get a pet canary, asked the pet shop worker if I should get two to keep each other company and he said absolutely. Asked if the cage they had was big enough for two, he said absolutely. Some time later (after my canaries had nearly killed each other in fights) I discoverd that if two male canaries are kept together they often fight. I also found out that the cage I had was much too small for them. I am older and wiser now and know to research these things online before making a purchase, but I always feel annoyed at the bad advice given to me by that pet shop.

LegacyUser · 14-08-2008 05:31PM

There is a new petshop on the northside. Better not mention any names.
We had 2 bad experiences with them.

1. Sold us completely wrong equipment for anoles (lizard things). The guys on the floor didn't even know what equipment the animal needed to survive! Then they gave us two of the same sex and they nearly killed each other.
2. Fish in tank riddled with white spot and the manager aknowledged iut was a problem while he continued to dish out the fish to customers.

Wouldn't surprise me if it was the same shop that told you that rubber was acceptable.

Did you know that the raw hide that the petshops sell is actually dangerous too? The stomach cannot digest it and it ends up stuck in the stomach. Our vet has had to operate on a lot of dogs to remove them!

We go with denta stix and kongs.

Sigma Force · 14-08-2008 11:36PM

I stopped giving my dogs rawhide years ago I noticed sometimes they would cough or it would get stuck. There one person on another board that nearly lost her dog because of rawhide.

Warhammer · 15-08-2008 01:54AM

ive seen so called rawhide sold outside shops.
That cant be good can it?
All the fumes from cars,other people handling them,other dogs(if they can reach them?) etc.
Is there a law for this?

christinadublin · 16-08-2008 04:59PM

It would be awful if that pet shop owner did know about rubber being dangerous. At least you found out yourself and you know not to give your pooch any.

rok · 17-08-2008 12:38PM

cheers lads, gonna stick with the denta stix and kongs and move my business to another Pet Shop.

Puppy swallowing rubber toy / unscrupulous Pet Store advice?

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