Common $7 Kmart dog toy leaves owner with $8000 vet bill

A furious dog owner has been left with an $8000 vet bill after her beloved pet had a piece of plastic stuck in his bowel from a rubber toy bone.

Felicity Brown shared a photo of the $7 Kmart item to her Facebook page alongside a piece of the toy that was removed by the vet. She captioned the photo with a warning to fellow pet owners about the chewable dog’s toy.

“Warning to all dog owners, do not buy the blue dog bone rubber toy from Kmart!,” she said.

“8000 dollars later our dog is lucky to be alive after a piece of said toy was stuck in his bowels!!!!”

Fellow dog owners were quick to share their similar experiences with similar chewable toys.

“My dog did the same thing with a kong chew toy- $2500 and part of her bowel missing later and she’s okay. at the end of the day, no toy is safe for unsupervised play – they are dogs, of course, they are going to chew things and swallow them.”

“My big mastiff x pointer is an excellent chewer and managed to chew and bite off / swallow a massive piece (like 5cm) of a different grade 4 rubber toy from Kmart. I was lucky she vomited up the piece of the other toy. I think I’ve just learnt that this can happen with any toy.”

Other dog owners preached the importance of supervising dogs while they play.

“Any toy you give to a dog should only be played with under supervision. No toy is indestructible given a strong enough jaw or sharp enough teeth. Once your dog begins to chew off a piece/s of that toy, it should be removed from play and put in the rubbish. Common sense really. You can’t blame the store or the toy.”

“I go over every single toy I purchase whether it be for my dogs or cats or bird .. there is no safety standards in pet toys .. most on the market are not safe .. no pet toy is safe if ingested.”

“We have a power chewer and she has this bone. Never had any issues as we don’t leave her unsupervised with it. This can happen with any toy. We just need to be careful. I’m glad he’s okay.”

Fortunately, the dog is okay and recovering after receiving treatment from the Animal Referral and Emergency Centre in Broadmeadow.