“With all the children’s toys being recalled for the things they are finding out about them … how safe are our dog’s toys? Date-rape drugs in children’s toys? Lead? What effects may this have on our dogs? Their health and behaviors? Have we been poisoning our dogs? I KNOW mine chew up and eat a lot of their toys, and being a “poo monitor” I KNOW there are toys producing lovely “party-colored logs”.

“I know ONLY a crazy dog lady would think of something like this … but when you don’t have human kids … well, we KNOW our dogs are firmly ensconced in that position in our hearts.

“I know when I shop for toys … I have been looking to see where they are made … I am steering clear of “China-made” toys and chewies. At least I hope that the labels on toys are honest and true. Is it really only “China” products that are the problem”?
The above are worried musings from Electra after she researched the following article by Clare Bristow.

 How many of your dog’s toys come from China? A quick count through Zoe and Fritz’s 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 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 warning list”.  I found out that Consumer Affairs 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. Scary. Very scary.

How poisonous are lead, chromium and cadmium?

• All metals are toxic to body cells because they compete with nutritional minerals in the body – and win. The nutritional minerals are displaced and cannot be used by the body.
• Lead affects the nervous and digestive systems, and poisoning can show itself as vomiting, abdominal pain, lack of appetite, seizures, loss of coordination, blindness, and behavior changes.
• Chromium is a known cancer-producing agent, causing cancer in the bladder and kidneys, and lungs if it is inhaled.
• Cadmium adversely affects the joints, kidneys and lungs
• Lead is the toxin to be most worried about – it isn’t expelled naturally by the body … it just accumulates and so the symptoms, and poisoning, will be progressive

How much is “too much”?

• According to Cornell University (in the USA), symptoms of nervous system poisoning appears in dogs and cats when the daily intake of lead id 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 Consumer Affairs 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 University’l 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 and nibble on 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/her, a few licks and 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 is 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 … OR you can make your own.
• When Zoe was a puppy she got far more fun from chasing an empty plastic milk bottle around the house than she did from any bought toy – apart from Kongs (which are manufactured in the US of A)

IF YOU HAVE ANY IDEAS FOR OTHER HOMEMADE TOYS, PLEASE SHARE THEM WITH THIS NEWSLETTER. MAKE SURE YOU GIVE DIRECTIONS AND A PHOTO OF THE TOY(S) IF POSSIBLE. WE WOULD LIKE TO THANK ELECTRA BLAIR OF 3bear FARMS FOR SUBMITTING THIS ARTICLE AND FOR THE SUGGESTION OF SUBMITTING ‘ALTERNATIVE TOY IDEAS’!