PSA: I used fleece scraps wrong for 6 months and my dog almost choked

I was making those braided fleece toys by just knotting the ends together, thinking the tighter the better. Last week my lab ripped one apart and swallowed a 5-inch strip whole before I could grab it. Vet said the knots actually make them easier to pull apart because the pressure points weaken the fabric. I switched to sewing the ends with a double stitch and now I test every toy by yanking on it as hard as I can. Anyone else find out the hard way that their 'safe' DIY toys were actually dangerous?

2 comments

2 Comments

dylanward1d ago

3 years back my buddy's golden retriever ended up with a $1,200 emergency surgery bill because of a braided fleece toy with knots. The vet literally pulled out a 4-inch wad of fabric that had twisted up in her intestines. You're right that knots create weak points, but we switched to using a simple overhand stitch on the ends and then burning the edges with a lighter to melt the fibers together - that combo has held up way better than any double stitch I've tried. The real issue is that fleece is garbage for heavy chewers no matter what you do. It stretches way too much and frays into these long strings once they get any purchase on it. Paracord with proper heat-sealed ends is the only DIY material I trust now for dogs that actually chew.

johnh821d ago

Man, that vet story is brutal. I feel for your buddy, nobody wants to learn that lesson with a 1,200 dollar surgery. You're spot on about fleece being bad for real chewers, I've seen the same thing with my own dogs. Even with the best stitching, once they get a grip on that fabric it just stretches out and turns into a mess of strings. Heating the edges sounds like a good trick for some fabrics though, I might have to try that with something tougher.