are regular stuffed animals ok?

[Luci]

so i wanna get gizmo a friend to chill with when im not there. ive been reading a lot of older posts and have noticed that fleece cuddle buddies are best. i live in galveston, tx and we pretty much have no pet supply stores so i was wondering if stuffed animals from walmart would work. do i have to make sure its fleece? and im assuming it cant be too soft in case he decides to rip it open.

any suggestions?

 

[XstarX]

i never thought about that. Im going to get my chinchilla a stuffed animal

 

[tunes]

No loose threads (loops). No plastic eyes or noses or bows, etc.

Check the baby section. Just a plain, flat cotton stuffie should work.

ETA: There are several people who make them through our classifieds section as well. They are really light and ship cheap.

 

[aznmexaggie]

The fleece buddies that most chin owners on here used are purchased from suppliers who are members of this forum. Most pet store items aren't chin-safe and a regular stuffed animal certainly wouldn't be. Eyes, fur, and other materials used could be chewed off and ingested and the batting used inside a regular stuffed animal is not safe. Take a look through the classifieds and I'm sure there are some members with fleece buddies available right now.

 

[Essentia]

I would say no. There are too many things that shouldn't be eaten on stuffed animals. Plastic eyes/nose, loose thread, etc. That said, my last rescue that I adopted out was surrendered to me with a stuffed bunny that she had in her cage for over a year. I inspected the bunny and there was nothing chewed on it, at all, so I left it in her cage with her. I had her for over 6 months and still nothing had been chewed so I felt comfortable giving it to her new owner. This isn't the norm though. Most things in the cage are chewed, so I would stick with something that won't come apart like a stuffed animal. There are sellers on here that sell the fleece cuddle buddies very cheap. You can also make yours pretty easily. It doesn't have to be a certain shape. Just some fleece sewn together, turned inside out (so no thread is showing) and then stuffed with more fleece (in case it is torn apart).

 

[Claire D]

Baby toys are often perfectly fine for chins instead of fleece buddies - it all depends on the chin and how "chewy" they are. As Peggy says, no eyes, buttons, whiskers etc to chew off and swallow and just check the toy every day for nibble damage.
I had a rescue here at Monty's Manor called "Tubbs" and he loved his soft toys - he slept on his stuffed rabbit and use his angel as a pillow. When the angel was too manky to salvage (it fell apart in the washing machine one day!) he had to make do with just the bunny. It was a hard life ................

 

[addictedtochins]

You don't even have to sew fleece, just cut out a rectangle piece, fold it in half, cut some fringe (about 1/2 to 1 inch wide, 2 inches deep) around the 3 cut sides (cut through both pieces at once so they match up for the last step). Put some fleece folded into a puffy square inside, then tie the fringe shut around your puffy stuffy LOL.

 

[addictedtochins]

Tubbs bunny looks just like him, aw cute.

 

[Jenn]

I have stuffed animals in Tink's cage and she has never chewed on them. For the most part she ignores them, but they do get moved around from time to time. I mostly have them in corners of her cage where I don't want her to go potty.