Today I’m bringing you a short review about one of my latest finds, a natural and durable hedgehog squeaky dog toy that floats!
How about that?
I found it at an independently owned pet retail store, Fort Wagg.
It’s a clever pun on Fort Bragg which isn’t far from us, lol. I always get a kick out of that name.
One of these days, as I was browsing their clearance sale in search of a treasure for the pups, I saw the cute looking hedgehog dog toy.
It stood out from a bunch of other dog toys because it just looks so darn cute!
What really got my “I’m-seriously-considering-buying-you-now” attention were the words non-toxic.
Ever since Missy kicked cancer’s butt I made it my personal mission to keep toxicity out of her and her brother’s lives.
100% Natural, Non-Toxic, Fun Dog Toy
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This hedgehog dog toy is made of Ruff-Tex.
That’s a thick-walled, flexible, 100% natural rubber AND corduroy fabric combination.
I have never come across anything like it, but I sure did like the sound of that.
However, I did notice it’s made in China, which is typically reason enough for me not to make a purchase.
I’m willing to broaden my horizon though, and this toy seems like one of the good guys, so to speak.
It claims not to contain any PVC and no plastics whatsoever.
It is stuffed with polyurethane foam which doesn’t contain any chemicals and is environmentally friendly.
To top it all off, even the paint used for the eyes and mouth portion on the toy is non-toxic, pet-friendly paint.
So this really seems like a good fit for our health oriented lifestyle.
Quick Facts Hugglehounds Ruff-Tex Hedgehog Dog Toy:
- Made with non-toxic materials (no plastic, no PVC)
- Natural rubber stuffed with foam
- Squeaks
- Bounces
- Floats
This Hedgehog Squeaky Dog Toy Even Floats!
There was another reason why I wanted to give this dog toy a try. Although it didn’t say anywhere on the packaging that it would float, to me it just really looked like it would!
Here’s the thing about Missy – she is VERY selective about dog toys and rarely plays with any on land.
She LOVES to go swimming though and actually retrieves toys that are thrown into the water for her.
Not once.
Not twice.
Every.single.time!
She never does that on land (unlike her brother Buzz who is a fetch fanatic), so I figured what the hell, I’ll invest the $12.99 + tax and see what happens.
Well…as you might be able to tell from above picture, it was love at first sight!
Missy couldn’t get enough from her new Hedgehog dog toy which DID float very nicely and tirelessly retrieved it for 30 mins straight.
That’s how long our swim session lasted at Riverbark Pet Retreat.
A Peeing Hedgehog Dog Toy
Granted, since Violet the hedgehog isn’t made to swim per se, she did absorb some water, but stayed afloat no problem, as mentioned above.
I gave her a few good squeezes which resulted in a peeing hedgehog dog toy, lol.
Back home, Missy was actually interested in playing with Violet some more!
That’s been unheard of so far – watch for yourself:
Our New Hedgehog Squeaky Dog Toy: Bottom Line
I am very pleased with our new squeaky dog toy!
Not only is it made of natural rubber and doesn’t contain any toxins, it also floats.
AND it enticed Missy to play fetch on land!
That says a lot, because Missy is typically not very interested in dog toys, unless they happen to be in the water.
The brand says it’s a durable dog toy, which is fair enough.
However, I wouldn’t give it to a strong chewer because it would probably not last very long at that point.
Then again, no dog toy is truly indestructible, so know your dog’s chewing/playing preferences to gage whether or not this would be a good fit!
We bought the large size toy for a good deal on a clearance sale, so that was definitely a wallet-friendly bonus.
You can buy one on Amazon here.
Do you own or know of any dog toys made of non-toxic materials? As always, we’d love to hear from you in our comment section!
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Very cool!! We love a good water toy, and we definitely need toys that are durable. If I see one of these I’ll give it a try!
Sounds good! I should find out if you came across one via your Instagram feed 😉
I am always looking for non-toxic toys, since Luke does everything he can to destroy toys, and no matter how hard I try to watch him he always does it behind my back. We’ve had some of this brand of toys (I don’t think ours were stuffed though), and I thought they were cool, but for some reason he lost interest in them. 🙁 Maybe we’ll have to try taking it swimming sometime and that would renew his interest in it.
Sounds exactly like Missy – she loses interest in toys very quickly UNLESS they’re in the water. Violet has been to the pool again since this post and still floats very nicely 🙂
Aw, those videos are adorable and I do believe Missy could be in love with her hedgehog, haha! I haven’t seen these before but I think Haley would love one. Do you think it’s pretty durable for biters? I’m sure Haley would at least try to bite off all those little spikey things on its back. Lucky, she doesn’t eat toy parts, but we could end up with a bald hedgehog, lol!
BOL, I hadn’t taken Violet’s spikes in consideration for strong biters…now that you mention it, they might be the first items to be chewed off…unless Haley would be more interested in playing with/retrieving it in the water. That might trump her chewing interest? We’ve had Violet for about 3 weeks now and she’s gone swimming 3 times. I just noticed one tear in her when Missy swam with her yesterday, so what I did was give Violet a good squeeze every 5 minutes or so to drain her of water that was starting to build up inside of her.
Missy is so cute! Thanks for sharing videos. Rocky doesn’t like water:-( Also, he is typically very determined to destroy all his toys!
Thank you, Anna! Missy is the complete opposite of Rocky then…her brother Buzz used to be like Rocky and didn’t want to get his precious paws wet, lol! Until one of his favorite balls “magically” landed in the pool…and Buzz didn’t think twice about going after it and retrieving it. Ever since then, he’s been a happy swimmer! Neither Buzz nor Missy get stuffed toys because they would just destuff and desqueak them…so I don’t bother wasting money on those kind of toys.
I love Hugglehounds. Their products are pretty durable. Thanks for introducing me to this toy.
My pleasure, Tonya! Good to hear that you’re familiar with the brand. I foresee more of their toys making their way into our pack..maybe also one of their throws. I like that they’re reversible and machine washable.