Buyer Beware!
 

First and foremost, I am so embarrassed to mention this and feel totally awful but I want for you to be aware of what COULD potentially happen to your pet too.

I bought this dog toy from a local dollar store. (I went and bought a new one to show you how it looked at the time of purchase).

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Dogs had great fun until Gryphon decided to have a gnaw at it by himself. After a [U]few[/U] minutes, this is what it looked like.

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And this is what Gryphon looked like after those [U]few[/U] minutes!

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This picture was taken after it healed a bit but he was bleeding around his eye from the punctured sharp plastic! So the moral of this thread is BUYER BEWARE! This toy must be used under adult supervision or not purchased as all!

How the heck did he do [I]that?![/I] :eek: Was the rascal swinging it around?

Poor Gryphon! Lucky he didn't get it in the eye!

We actually have some very similar looking toys in the toy basket--we use them as tuggies in the winter, but found out, like you, that the plastic can be chewed and the ropes shred. So they're now only used under close supervision and they're not allowed to take them off on their own.

Heal up quick, Gryphon! :goodvibes:

Well I tell you Hazel...it was a matter of minutes before he had the plastic chewed up! :frustrated: He was just laying out in the back porch having a gnaw then I bent down to pet him and noticed the blood and gouges around his eye! :eek:

We've been monitoring his eye cause it has become somewhat bloodshot and worrisome. :confused:

I was just googling the tag on the toy and found the importers so I'm gonna do a little investigating and try to get some satisfaction. :frustrated: :frustrated:

I'm so p#*ssed off right now for the dumb nutts that thought this would be a safe toy for an animal to play with and of course....it's Made In China! :yell:

Awww...poor Gryphon, hope he heals up quickly. I've had similar toys before and for some reason, those plastic parts MUST COME OFF at all costs. The other ones that get ripped up are the plush toys with rope arms and legs. Those ropes just gotta go. Mine shred stuff like that so quickly that I stopped buying anything like that, even though they never hurt themselves like Gryphon did. To me it ended up being more economical in the long run to just sink the money into some really good toys (like Kong and Nylabone products) than to keep replacing the cheap ones. Sometimes I will get a couple of new rope toys, but just the ropes with the knots on the ends. For some reason they don't tend to rip them up as quickly as if they have plastic parts or balls or anything else attached.

ETA: I also got a little worried about where the toys are made. Usually the stuffing in the plush ones is white polyester but once when mine ripped open a plush squeaky ball it had a strange looking dark coloured denser stuffing. More fibrous (sp?) looking. Made me wonder what it really was made from and I took it away from them.

I hear ya Gail...most of the toys we purchase are good, longlasting toys (take Mr. Piggy for instance!) :)

This was just a quick "hey that looks like a nice sturdy rope toy" and threw it in the shopping basket not even thinking about the thick, heavy plastic thing in the middle. Unfortunately, it has caused a great deal of concern.

Like I said, I'm really heartbroken and embarassed about my poor boy's outcome but I just wanted other's to take a second look when throwing cheap dollarstore pet toys into their carts. :2cents: :2cents:

Wow... ty for the info. I have 2 of those for my boys.. but they are still too small to actually chew it to the point of snapping the plastic. Will have to supervise them while they play with that. Hope Gryphon heals up quickly.

In the past I've bought lots of dollar store toys for my guys but they're just so hard on the toys that I found I had to get ones more durable. Those rope toys would probably be fine for dogs that just want to play tug or fetch and weren't determined to chew them apart.

Poor Gryphon. Hope he feels better soon!

Well I did it! :lightbulb:

I did some investigating and ended up finding an e-mail address for the CFO of the dollarstore. So I fired off an e-mail this afternoon and attached these pictures.

Within an hour, a lady from the dollar store's corporate office called my house and asked if either she could have someone come to my house to pick up the toy or if I could return it to the point of purchase.

So I piled Gryphon into my car and drove it back to the store. The manager moved forward to give me a refund to which I declined. I told her that the 1.45 wasn't worth all my aggravations and that they should focus on advising their customers of a warning instead or just take the damn toy off the shelf! :frustrated:

[B][U]Further update!!![/U][/B]

The chew toy was couriered today back to corporate office for analysis. :)

After discussing this with fellow co-workers yesterday, a colleague of mine brought in the exact same chew toy with the hard plastic chewed up from her little guy. Fortunately, he never ended up with gouges in his face but it still had the same effect.

There's this old saying; [I][B]If you're satisfied with something you'll tell some friends. If you're dissatisfied, you'll tell everyone!" :rolleyes:[/B][/I]

Good work! :highfive:

How is Gryphon healing? :goodvibes:

The gouges are healing up o.k. :thumbs up

I've also been monitoring the redness in his third eyelid and it appears to healing up well too. :pray:

Mollie's schedule to see our vet next week so I'm gonna bring him in too just for a glance over as well.

That's a good idea! :goodvibes: Is Mollie giving Gryphon a break while he heals or is she still subjecting him to her mischief? :dog:

Well she's tear assing around the house/yard and she'll go full tilt at him with with a full body slam! :eek:

I wish Gryphon would put her in her spot but, he's such a panzy! :o

It must be just his demeanor? :shrug:

Oh my goodness! That is scary. I am so glad his eye is healing well!

I am very careful to only buy dog toys made in the US or Canada now after the scare a few years ago of the Walmart dog toys made in China that were found to have lead and other contamanents in them. They concluded the levels weren't high enough to cause damage, but I don't care, I won't take that risk. Yikes! I had some of those Walmart toys and threw them all away and now always check to see where it was made before buying it.

[url]http://www.consumeraffairs.com/news04/2007/09/pet_food_recalls74.html[/url]

How sad that we have to worry about things like this happening!

Wow! Thanks for the link Smiley! :thumbs up

:sorry: if I offend anyone here but China really needs to smartin up their act as far as man kind and man's best friend's well being!

They're products are becoming a real hazard to our society! :frustrated:

[B]UPDATE TO MY UPDATE![/B]

I took Gryphon to the vet this afternoon rather than waiting. The vet did a flourescein staining on the cornea and thank DAWG--there were no scratches! :)

He does have a mild case of Conjunctivitis from the trauma and the vet prescribed BNP Ointment.

[B]Oh BTW...[/B]the store where I purchased the toy advised that they will reimburse my vet costs! :thumbs up

I never buy Tucker toys from the dollar stores he is just too rough on them, hope your guy is better soon.

Thanks Doggy Lover and yes! Gryphon's feeling much better.

I think we'll stick to all these safe, non-hazardous toys from here on in! :thumbs up

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[SIZE="5"][COLOR="Red"]These are [U]MY[/U] toys! :cloud9:[/COLOR][/SIZE]

[QUOTE=klmccallum;826580][B]Oh BTW...[/B]the store where I purchased the toy advised that they will reimburse my vet costs! :thumbs up[/QUOTE]

That's great!! Glad he didn't have any major damage to his eyes. :eek:

Heal fast, Gryphon! :goodvibes: Molly needs her punching ba...urm...:o I mean she needs her playmate back! :dog:

Poor doggie, hope he's healing OK!

I don't touch the toys from the dollar store. Well, I lie.. I did buy something once and Sandy shredded it within about 5 minutes and I figured dollar store dog toys were a waste of money. :laughing: I stick with Kong and durable hard rubber fetch balls from Canadian Tire.

This link was shared with me yesterday, and I immediately thought of this thread! Very useful to see how a brand or toy ranks for toxicity! But I'm so glad he's feeling better now and that's great the store will reimburse medical costs! :thumbs up

[url]http://www.healthystuff.org/[/url]

[B]CearcaQC:[/B] I'm like you. I did the unthinkable and bought ONE...JUST ONE TOY from the dollar store and this is what happened. :frustrated: Durable strong toys as we have had in the past from now on! :thumbs up

Thanks Smiley for the link. It's unfortunate that we have to keep a close eye on what we or our furbabies have in and around our surroundings.

[B]Madame Hazel:[/B] Mollie's got her punching ba....urm...Gryphon back but she's only allowed to aim below the belt...for now! :D :D :laughing: :laughing: