Comments on: Pet Owner Tests 24 Chinese-Made Dog Toys For Lead

By: Dru S.

Dru S. — Mon, 31 Aug 2009 14:26:43 +0000

Our Shih-Tzu is a little over a year old and was given a soft latex green frog which he loved. He would lie around in a daze while holding the frog in his mouth, drooling all the while. We bought several because he loved it so much, but soon noticed that our smart little pup changed, becoming nervous and easily confused. We tried to find an explanation and eliminated any possibility including getting rid of the frogs (we saved one for testing, if necessary). Yes, they were “made in China”.
We brought this issue to our vet and since we had not noticed any other symptoms (nausea, vomiting, etc.), she wasn’t concerned. But, if the change in Grizz was caused by lead, etc., is there anything we can do to reverse this?
Thanks,

Dru

By: larryt

larryt — Fri, 28 Aug 2009 17:44:45 +0000

My 10 lb 3 year old has had toys made by Petking all his life, he carries one in his mouth all the time, tears them up and takes the nois maker out. We have recently had a blood test from him and his liver enzymes are at 400 (very High). We have been trying to determine what could have caused this problem. I have taken the toys away because they are the only thing that he has had constant exposure for long periods of time.
I have been trying to find lead testing kits to see if the toys (made in China) are the cause. Also tried the Petking website to see if they had any comments so far no luck. Has anyone out there got any comments?
Thanks
Larry

By: Debbie

Debbie — Fri, 22 May 2009 22:03:07 +0000

My pet kitten, Rambo died from swallowing a part from a poorly made pet toy. Imported from China. Purchased at WalMart and distributed by Worldwise Toys, San Rafael, Ca The story aired on News 4 Greenville, SC recently. Heres the link http://www.wyff4.com/news/19480835/detail.html

By: jC

jC — Mon, 27 Apr 2009 12:29:24 +0000

My Westie mix kept getting sick and throwing up. He became sicker when our neighbor gave us his dog’s toys. We thought he wasn’t going to make it he was so sick. So we thought about what we gave him differently. We got rid of all the toys made in China and he has not got sick since.

By: Christina Orr

Christina Orr — Thu, 26 Mar 2009 02:34:24 +0000

I have ALWAYS wondered about this topic…. My dog will chew and chew on those “MADE in China” toys…… that paint is in our dog’s mouth MUCH longer than a baby or toddler would………SO ….to me this seems more dangerous?? right???

By: Red Rotor

Red Rotor — Tue, 30 Dec 2008 17:58:44 +0000

We’ve been pretty concerned about our dog. He has valley fever so he is on medications and special diets to combat the ill effects of the VF and the medications too. We started noticing that he spends about 60% of his time chewing on these chew toys. They lose their color after a while and we couldn’t help but wonder how good it was that this stuff is seeping into his system. Long story short, we found some great and durable chewable dog toys that are made in the usa by Stuffington Bear Factory. After some time, he has perked up a bit and I think it’s because he is ingesting a lot less garbage from the old dog toys. We found them at www.stuffington.com, they manufacture the toys in America using American materials too. One thing I’m having trouble finding are dog dishes made in the usa.

By: Mary Richards

Mary Richards — Fri, 31 Oct 2008 04:53:35 +0000

I use lead test kits on all of my poodle’s toys. Out of all of the toys I have tested, around 20, I only found one that had lead in it. Give http://www.check4lead.com a try or goto your local hardware store to buy these lead test kits.

Thanks for the article,

Mary

By: Niki

Niki — Tue, 24 Jun 2008 11:18:47 +0000

Thank you so much for doing this test. I have been wondering if they were safe as well. I have bought a few toys from a company called WEST PAW and they are all made here in the USA. Its a shame we cannot find any products produced by our own people. My question is I understand they are within limits for the childrens toys but dogs do nothing but eat there toys completely that is the sole purpose. Not to just play with them so if children did nothing but eat the toys would they re consider the lead amounts?

Thanks again,

Niki

By: DogBedsandmore

DogBedsandmore — Thu, 17 Jan 2008 06:50:21 +0000

Yes, whether it is good or bad but certainly what you said is acceptable I too truly donâ€™t know the affectibility of this test.

By: Dee

Dee — Wed, 26 Sep 2007 23:13:26 +0000

Don’t matter. I threw my babies’ toys away. I will not take any chances. I heard of this problem on this website only, never on the news. These dangerous recalls are getting so numerous, they are not even considered news anymore. Everyone can argue about how many millionths is safe if they want to, but with our technology, we should be able to make safe toys. And… has anyone aske the question: Does safe for children = safe for animals, of all sizes?

By: 2CatMom

2CatMom — Wed, 26 Sep 2007 01:06:37 +0000

Here are the results from my lead test kit. The kit is supposed to detect lead on surfaces where the concentrations are 1 ug or more. I’m not sure what this means but it says if its below this amount the object should be “safe.”

I tested 8 food/toy objects from a variety of stores/manufactuerers. The toys I tested are ones my cats like best - all test samples were disgarded cause who knows what’s in the test solution (ceramics will be washed in dishwasher with hot rinse/dry cycle).

Small ceramic plate from PetCo (says made in China)
Deep ceramic dish from PetCo (no country of origin)
Small ceramic dish from PetSmart (says made in China)
Avg ceramic dish from PetSmart (no country of origin)

Multipet Crinkle Catnip Balls, ordered online - (says made in China)
Spot Ethical Spotnips (plastic slinkies) from Private pet store - (says made in China
PetSmart Pet Holiday toy - fluffy blob with feather tail (says made in China)
Petking Cat Toy - sponge balls (made in China)

All tests came out NEGATIVE! The kit comes with lead coated paper so if you get a negative result you can confirm that the swabs are working properly.

I don’t really know whether this is good or not because I don’t know the sensitivity of the test. But it is better than getting 8 positive results.

By: L Brenneman

L Brenneman — Tue, 25 Sep 2007 19:43:11 +0000

I recently purchased a two small latex toys from a large pet store. I washed them off and left them to dry. When dry, they had lost their color and I even chose light colors. I just cannot believe that US Manufacturers advertise they are American Companies but export their merchandise to be manufactured elsewhere.

There are American Made toys but alot of them seem to be for larger pets. If anyone has resources for smaller pet toys “MADE In the USA” please let me know! Thankyou…….

By: Julie

Julie — Tue, 25 Sep 2007 19:09:37 +0000

The article concludes, “she is a bit troubled that she canâ€™t find any pet toys made in the United States.”

And she WON’T find any pet toys made in the USA because consumers will not pay the high prices US manufacturers are forced to charge for their products. (Thank you, Wal-Mart.) Don’t forget, foreign companies don’t pay health benefits, unemployment benefits, don’t provide insurance for their workers, don’t pay federal, local and state taxes. Foreign companies don’t have severe restrictions placed on them by workers unions, OSHA, FDA, EPA, you name it. What’s more - US companies are charged export taxes to sell overseas - there are NO import taxes on foreign made products brought to the USA.

By: 2CatMom

2CatMom — Tue, 25 Sep 2007 15:59:09 +0000

My lead testing kit came in the mail today, so I will be doing some of my own tests tonight on cat food dishes and toys. I’ll let you know the results.

By: Beth

Beth — Tue, 25 Sep 2007 14:44:08 +0000

If we found lead in baby bibs…who would ever think to have their baby’s bibs investigated for safety?
I worry that the colors put into latex pet toys are lead-based? or in the dyes in the fabrics used to make stuffed pet toys?
As long as it is made in China, we need to cast suspicion