Most pet owners have bought rope toys for their puppies to play with. It’s cute watching them play the game of tug of war with you or another dog. Unfortunately these toys are very dangerous for your dog. As your dog gets older he will be able to chew big pieces off the rope and swallow them. Notice most rope toys have knots on each end and some have those small pieces sticking out which the puppies can chew off and swallow. The older puppies can actually chew these knots off and swallow them whole. These large knots will not pass through your dogs digestive system under normal circumstances! The younger puppies can chew off and swallow enough material to be just as dangerous.We also do not recommend plush or cloth toys as they are also easily swallowed.
So what’s the danger? These pieces get stuck in the small intestines creating a blockage and intestinal perforations. This can easily kill your dog. They can get very sick in a short amount of time from a blockage. Some times it can take more than one trip to the veterinarian to even know what the real problem is because a blockage has the same symptoms as parasites in some cases and the longer it takes to get the correct diagnosis, the more dangerous the situation becomes. This can also be very costly!
Symptoms include:
• Vomiting
• Staining to potty
• Stops eating and drinking
• Lethargy
True story meet one of our previous puppies named Maverick. Maverick had to undergo surgery a few days ago from eating a rope toy and getting a blockage. He is okay and recovering today but not only did he almost die it also cost around 5,000 dollars to go in and get the rope toy out of his small intestines. That is not a typo! Then they had to attach skin to the perforated areas of intestine. Maverick will probably wear the cone of shame for 10 days. I know he won’t be very happy about that. His family loves him dearly and wanted to make sure we warned people about the dangers of rope toys and other unsuitable dog toys. Just because a company makes them doesn’t mean they are ideal or safe for a dog. Rope toys are cheap and inexpensive to make and that means more profit from making them. Obviously safety is not going to be a concern.
Maverick recovering from Surgery
The incision area
We have used these toys around here under supervision and then took them away after the play session with the puppies was over. We decided to stop doing it a while back because someone on our staff including us could forget and leave the rope toy with them all day or night and then we could have a serious situation with one of our puppies. If you have one at home I suggest throwing it away and only keeping hard rubber type toys that they can’t chew into and eat pieces that they actually chew off of the toy. Huskies are notorious for eating socks and swallowing things they should not eat. Here are some examples of what we do recommend.
Amazon is about the cheapest place to shop for dog toys and supplies. By keeping unsuitable dog toys around your home you are setting yourself up for a bad situation to happen. We all get busy with everyday life. Hosting family for special events and dinners is one example where things can go wrong. If a kid or family member sees the rope toy setting around, they could give it to your dog not knowing the dog needs to be supervised and it only takes a minute for them to have one swallowed. Having someone watch your dog while your away and them not knowing your dog could swallow the rope toy and they let it play with it while unsupervised. Another reason is your dog is smart and knows where you are hiding the toy. It’s just a matter of time before he gets it on his own when you fail to secure it that one time.
Rope toys are cheap but if it costs you several thousand dollars to save your dogs life and your dog has to suffer through a surgery then just how cheap is a rope toy for your dog? You could buy a really good box of safe toys for a fraction of the cost. Our veterinarian has told us he has operated on a lot of dogs from swallowing these types of toys and in his opinion they are one of the most dangerous objects a dog can swallow. Not all these dogs that swallow a rope toy have a happy ending. Take this serious and keep your dog away from unsafe toys. Please share this with everyone and help us make dog owners aware of the dangers of rope toys.
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