# Eating rope (string) and fuzz bad?



## shortcake23 (Aug 15, 2008)

When we give Mia rope toys (like the one in the picture), instead of playing with it how I'd expect (by chewing on the rope -- not the ends-- or tossing it, etc.) she just picks at the end of the rope and gets pieces of the rope off and chews them, and if I don't take them out of her mouth, eats them.

Also, with a tennis ball and stuffed toys, all she does is pull on the fuzz and try to eat it...

Is this bad for her, if she eats them? And is it bad for her teeth (could it get stuck between her teeth)?


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## shortcake23 (Aug 15, 2008)

Forgot to attach picture.. here it is.


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## Scarletts_Daddy (Sep 4, 2008)

Scarlett does the exact same thing. So I limit her exposure to her rope toy til she wants to actively tug. Then when she's done I take it back from her. I know I'm a horrible daddy.


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## Bender (Dec 30, 2008)

If the string is long enough it can cause major problems. Also if she eats too much of it. You might want to save those toys for when she's a bit older to see if she's past that stage.

For the 'defuzzing', not really a big deal unless she gets things stuck in her teeth. But tennis ball fuzz is hard on the teeth and will wear them down in time (or so I've heard). Apart from the mess of course.

If she's into 'destuffing' toys make sure she doesn't eat the filling, that's pretty bad too. 

Lana


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## martinrt (Jun 24, 2008)

Both my dogs would rather chew/eat at the end strings of the rope then do anything else with it, and I let them do it to an extent. As for the tennis ball, I've heard on this forum that the tennis ball fuzz CAN get lodged between their teeth and eventually lead to so issues with their gums, potentially leading to teeth issues. I take the tennis balls away when they are de-fuzzing them, same with stuff animals, but don't really worry about the ropes.


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## shortcake23 (Aug 15, 2008)

I've taken away the tennis ball a few weeks ago because pulling the fuzz was all she was doing. We got her another ball that doesn't have fuzz on it, but she doesn't seem interested in it... might be a bit too big though...

The stuffed toys I only give them to her when I'm there and can supervise, but she only gets them for a few minutes because all she's doing is fulling the fuzz or ripping an ear off or whatever she can rip off...

I guess I'll have to limit all these types of toys until she stops doing this.

Any suggestions for toys I can give her that don't have rope, fuzz or fabric??
(I have a rubber ball which she doesn't care much for, two frisbees, kongs, plastic bottles...)


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## martinrt (Jun 24, 2008)

I don't have any good suggestions for you...I find that if my dogs can't destroy it then they're really not interested in it. If you buy the tennis balls from the pet store, not actual tennis balls, I find that there really isn't much fuzz to rip off and they seem to still like them. Also, I drilled a hole is a tennis ball so they can actually chew it some and they seem to like that a lot. Aston was once chewing on it and his tooth went through the little hole and the tennis ball was stuck in his mouth, it was pretty funny seeing him try to figure out how to get it unstuck.


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## DebsDog (Mar 28, 2008)

As for balls...I buy Wallace lacrosse balls which are solid rubber and indestructable. They are also only about $2.00 at any sports store.


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## capa (Jan 7, 2009)

Axel has played with knotted ropes since he was little and has never had any problems associated with them. They are great because they help to clean their teeth and they are so tightly braided that the danger of long threads is in my opinion close to zero. The ones I buy are 100% cotton, natural dyes only, and it is funny sometimes to see rainbow colored poop because his digestive system throws the thread pieces out again.


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