Right now, in order to not spend a million bucks on toys and toy replacements, I'm taking them away from Kairo when she shifts from tossing them around to shredding them. I was wondering what some of you with heavy chewers do to preserve your toys?

I make home made toys out of old sweats cut into long pieces and tied in knots, old tube socks with an empty soda bottle inside and a knot on the end, a pillow case stuffed with another pillow case and tied tightly in knots. The cute little faces and animals in dog toys are more to attract the human than the dog. Also, a big heavy stick...

I feel your pain. I wish I had taken pictures of all the dead toys as a result of Zhukov, or at least the stuffing scattered all over the house. The funny thing is, after destroying the toys, Zhukov will still play with the "corpses". So, after he dismembers them, rips out the stuffing, removes the squeaker, he still drags around the "skin" and tosses it around to amuse himself.

However, Amy's suggestion is also a good alternative! I have to admit that I buy toys for them that I like, for example, any Star Wars themed item. It does break my heart when I see a dead Chewbacca or a shredded X-wing....

We have a graveyard of destroyed toys... There are a few that we've found last several days that we just rebuy over and over again... The only things that have lasted long term are elk horns and various Kong toys (ours love the wubbas... But those last about a week).if you want to keep them busy, try the heavy duty classic Kong with a frozen stuffing (there are tons of recipes around the Internet to keep them happy).

Well, we tried the jolly ball yesterday - and in the time in about 5-10 minutes, she chewed through the corner of the handle.

I also got her one of those firehose toys, but she's already gotten thread stuck in her teeth from it, so I don't have high hopes for that either.

It looks like our "winner" is the rubber Kogn ball that is big enough to carry around but almost too large to get a grip on to do so - she can't so much as sink her teeth into it as hold on to it.

Christina, what I do with Avalanche - who is the only one who wants *anything* to do with a ball - is to take it out, toss it, he'll bring it back after playing with it himself, and repeat until he's tired. He'll also flip it up in the air and chase it all by himself. I've been lucky that - after a "No!" or two - none of mine are chewers.

Oddly, if I give him the choice between his old ball - the one where the handles crumbling away from teeth marks - and the new one, you know which one he wants to play with - the old one, of course! Wasted money getting him a new one - sheesh!!!!

Firehose toy - if she's getting thread stuck in her teeth, that's one to drop into the circular file. If she's getting them in her teeth, she's swallowing them and you do not need a blockage!

KairoAndEmber wrote:

Well, we tried the jolly ball yesterday - and in the time in about 5-10 minutes, she chewed through the corner of the handle.

I have jolly teaser ball - no handle.

The jolly ball Kohdi and Mishka have has the handle integrated into the ball itself, it doesn't protrude.

Hmm something to consider. I only saw one other type at the local Petsmart, and it had the pull rope. Almost went for that one... maybe next time