Lets Talk About Dangerous Cat Toys

[BreannaTrosclair]

My sweet, two year old tortoiseshell, Sheba, accidentally ingested an entire PetStages “biting” toy.

It is advertised as a 3.5in. long catnip roll for biting and nighttime play. There is a HUGE emphasis on “night time” and “silent play.” More like SILENT DEATH in my opinion. However, the warning label states to ALWAYS supervise your animal when playing with a toy.

If I had followed the advertised mode of play, my sweet baby may very well be DEAD. I saw it get caught and I couldn’t get to it in time and witnessed her choke it down in reflex.

We immediately rushed to the hospital to induce vomiting because she had just ate a can of cat food prior and we hoped it would help push it out.

An endoscopy was required to remove the toy.

I had to charge a high interest credit card with $2,300 “deposit,” which is actually the estimate, because they refund what they don’t use back to your card. They would not have helped her if I couldn’t pay, I asked.

I cannot imagine what would have happened had I not seen it happen. There is absolutely no way that would have passed. It could have unraveled and required surgery or worse; resulted in death.

Petstages, Aka Outward Hound, said that due to it being an isolated incident they don’t believe they are responsible for helping me financially at all... even though I am now severely struggling because of this credit card bill. They mentioned no plans to change the packaging or address the faulty design and I am EXTREMELY CONCERNED.

Please DO NOT BUY THIS TOY!! Please be mindful when choosing toys. Inspect them carefully and imagine the possibilities. Be safe, be mindful, and you will not be sorry.

I want to ask if anyone has had any issues with ANY TOYS or household items and to PLEASE share your story HERE!!

 

[1CatOverTheLine]

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BreannaTrosclair - First, thank the Lord that Sheba is all right.

This should not be construed as legal advice, however we have become immune to warning labels as a society, and the packaging implies that the toy is intended for unsupervised use, by the presence of the phrase, "won't wake pet parents" -

I'm not an attorney, but if our places were reversed, I'd consult my own legal counsel and address the possibility of a strongly-worded letter to the company, clearly outlining your financial loss, touching on the possibility that your cat's Life might have been threatened, and making clear the fact that the packaging implies unsupervised use - since "pet parents" who are sleeping are surely not supervising their cats - and formally request that the manufacturer cover your costs, rather than face the poor publicity which would doubtless ensue if the matter were placed before a court of law. I'll write a mention here for a TCS member who is a practising attorney - @doomsdave - and see if he'll weight in here.
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[Anne]

Welcome to TCS BreannaTrosclair and I'm very sorry that it's under these circumstances. I hope Sheba is doing better now and that we'll get to know her and yourself in other threads as well.

Cat toy safety is a good topic so let's please focus on that and avoid discussing legal implications of this particular case. The only person who can help the OP with legal advice is a lawyer which she will hire - not any member here, whether or not he's an attorney I'm sure @doomsdave will agree that dispensing legal advice isn't something to be done off-handedly in a public online forum.

Breanna raised a good question about anyone having safety issues with any cat toys, so let's talk about that, please.

 

[tinydestroyer]

Wow, I'm so happy that Sheba is ok! She reminds me of my tortie. I actually just bought this Petstages toy for a friend who recently adopted a cat, as she was mentioning how most of the cat toys keep her up at night. I was only drawn to this specific toy because of the implication on the packaging that it was a soft, safe toy to leave with your cat while you sleep and they have their "nighttime zoomies." You can be sure that I'll mention this situation to her, and make a note in my review for Chewy (where I purchased it.)

I've luckily never had any injuries result from toys, but I've seen toys break in such a way that if I weren't nearby, they could've caused some damage. I am a longtime dog owner, so I'm used to leaving some plush and chew toys for the pup while I'm gone to prevent boredom. I initially thought I should do the same for cats, until I heard advice to the contrary (and horror stories,) on TCS. I only leave a few catnip mice out now, (as well as scratching posts, cat trees, and tunnels,) and bring all the other small / wand toys out only while we are home. I might be overly cautious in this regard, but I've seen so many bells, feathers, and elastic strings pop right off in the short time I've owned cats that I don't want to risk ingestion, since they continue to play with the broken bits, naturally.

Honestly, before your story, I'd have sorted the catnip rolls in the same category as the few "safe" toys I can leave out while the cats are unsupervised. Maybe I'll reevaluate those assumptions. Thanks so much for sharing your story, and welcome to TCS! I look forward to seeing you and Sheba around! Hopefully the company does something to rectify this misleading packaging.

 

[LTS3]

If you need help with the vet bills, you can look at one of these organizations:

No Money For Vet Care? How To Find Help And Save Your Cat's Life
Financial Aid for Pets

Cat toys with jingle bells and any part that is easily removable are unsafe, too. Feathers, decorations, googly eyes, etc. Another TCS member had a recent scare when her cat ate the jingle bell that came off a toy. She saw the cat eat it and wasn't able to get it out of the mouth in time. Due to the cat's age and multiple health issues, the vet advised the member to keep a close eye on the poop and cat for the next few days. An x ray was done a few days later which fortunately showed no bell inside the cat. The cat must have pooped the bell out which the member didn't notice.

Do you have any consumer advocacy groups in your state? You could contact them for advice. News stations often have a consumer advocate segment on the daily news and you could submit your story. PetStages likely has a FB page where you can post to warn other cat owners about the dangers of this particular toy. Don't forget Amazon where you can also post a review even if you didn't buy the toy from there.

 

[Dacatchair]

I would never buy 90% of the toys I see being made for cats as they are so obviously not safe. But then my teenage cats is a watered down more domesticated variety of Savannah, and I think they have a tendency to want to eat their toys.

He loves those furry rattle mice, with the tails, but the tails all have to come off after a couple very carefully supervised play sessions as they will get chewed off. I think he is big enough now they would get passed without a problem, but I still don't want him eating upholstery fabric. And I have to keep all the tailless toy mice in my microwave after playing, as if they are left out he will start working on chewing them up, probably with a plan to eat them. (he can't open the microwave) They are tough enough it would take him a while to break one up, so I feel OK continuing to play fetch games with them.

But even with supervision many toys are not safe as something urgent and unexpected can so easily come up and distract us. It only takes a moment.

Having a high energy very intelligent cat I need to keep entertained, and so few safe toys to choose from has forced me to invent things myself, and I think cat toy manufacturers could do so much better!

 

[maggiedemi]

I'm so sorry this happened. That toy should be taken off the shelf. It looks very unsafe, almost like a thick piece of string or rope, and with it being flavored with catnip, it's just an accident waiting to happen. Thank you for the warning. It's a reminder to be really careful when I pick out toys for my cats.

 

[KarenKat]

So glad Sheba is doing ok! We’ve never had an issue with toys, but we once bought a wool carrot from PetFoodExpress and after a few play sessions saw that the inside was a small piece of styrofoam. That went into the garbage immediately and I was quite angry the package didn’t mention what it was at all. I will be looking at toys more carefully too after reading this!

 

[Azazel]

Wow the response from the company was so heartless and irresponsible. I will not be purchasing any more outward hound/petstages products.

Thank you for informing us of this and I’m really glad your kitty is doing better.

 

[abyeb]

I’m so relieved to hear that Sheba is doing all right.

 

[neely]

But even with supervision many toys are not safe as something urgent and unexpected can so easily come up and distract us. It only takes a moment.

I completely agree with D Dacatchair 's above statement.

Every one of our cats has been attracted to different types of toys, both past and present cat(s). Sometimes it's not just toys that aren't safe but other household and/or personal items we leave out as well. Getting back to toys, we've had cheaply made plastic toys break especially balls with bells. Unfortunately they're one of our cat's favorites but not worth endangering his health. It took awhile but we found a satisfactory replacement.

Very glad to hear Sheba is out of harm's way.