Product Review: Kong Safestix

Kong Safestix offers all the fun of playing with a stick, without the risk of splinters and puncture wounds. These fetch toys are durable, throwable, and they float, too! Safestix are available in a variety of colors and sizes.

Photo by Erin Koski

Ok, first lets go ahead and say that this thing looks like a sex toy. A lot. You basically can't mention this thing without saying that. They might as well call it "Safestix - Wow That Really Looks Like a Sex Toy".

Now that we have that out of the way, I can say that I'm surprised how much my dogs like this thing. I bought it on clearance and fully expected them to ignore it because it doesn't really do anything. It doesn't squeak or crackle. There's no place to hide treats. It's just a solid hunk of flexible plastic that happens to look incredibly suggestive.

Photo by Erin Koski

For some reason Zip thinks this is an awesome toy to play fetch with. Let's be clear here, this is a fetch toy and not a chew toy. It's pretty durable, flexible enough that I'm not worried about Zip breaking a tooth on it, but tough enough that she doesn't leave marks on it either. Still, it's not a Nylabone or a GoughNut, it's not meant to give your power chewer hours of gnawing pleasure. That's right, I just used the word 'pleasure'.

Photo by Erin Koski

Pros

• Flies through the air like a stick
• Doesn't splinter into splinters like a stick
• Floats
• Tough enough to handle some gnawing

Cons

• Is not ubiquitous in nature like a stick
• Will cause your mother-in-law to raise an eyebrow when she sees it on your kitchen floor
• Not actually intended for serious chewing

Bottom Line

This is a nice safe fetch toy that can handle a good gnaw by most dogs. It is standing up well to my low-level power chewer, but it won't survive a real mission of destruction. If your dog is a major toy destroyer, check out my reviews for GoughNuts, Black Kongs, and SodaPup Magnum toys.

Product Review: Kong Duets Boomerang

This boomerang toy is from Kong's Duets toy line. These are toys that offer two different textures and sounds in one toy. Our boomerang squeaks and also rattles. This is an interactive toy, and not part of Kong's flagship rubber chew toys.

Photo by Erin Koski

The girls got the Duets boomerang for Christmas. It's brightly-colored, and I was curious how well it would hold up to insane amounts of fetch. As far as I can tell, Kong makes two types of toys; there's the really super durable guaranteed chew toys, and then there's the cheap flimsy stuff.

The information about the Duets toy line describes them as having a "loud squeaker". How loud is it? I'd say average. It's not super quiet, but it's nowhere near Cuz ball level.

Photo by Erin Koski

The rattling sound honestly is barely noticeable, but I think it could be fun for a shy or sound-sensitive dog. It creates the sound of lots of movement in a small and non-threatening package.

Pros: Both squeaks and rattles, to fit different play personalities. Pretty and sparkly. Boomerang shape is fun to throw.

Cons: The girls killed the squeak on Day 1. Now it just rattles. Nobody cares about the rattle.

Bottom Line: It's durable enough that we haven't fetched it to death yet, but I doubt it would stand up to any sort of real gnawing. It's a fun interactive toy for smallish dogs.

Product Review: Kong Cloud Collar

Kong's Cloud Collar is an inflatable alternative to those big plastic lampshade cones. It comes with a soft machine-washable cover, and does not leave bruises when your puppy smashes it into your leg. Comes in five sizes (ours is a Large).

Photo by Erin Koski

I used this collar while Sisci was recovering from her spay surgery a few months ago. I had originally tried a soft head cone for her, but it was too scary for her to move around in. The Cloud Collar doesn't obstruct her vision or make the world sound weird, so she was perfectly happy to wear it around the clock for three weeks (The clinic said two weeks but I was feeling paranoid).

I had thought that this size large collar was significantly larger than the recommended size for Sis, but according to the package it is exactly the right size. It works just like the ZenPet Procollar, but the Cloud Collar is a bit bigger and I feel it provides more protection.

Pros: Way more comfortable than a rigid or flexible head cone. Does not obstruct vision or impact hearing. Can size up for more protection. Easy to store when deflated.

Cons: Not as reliable as a big plastic head cone, pet can still reach some parts of their body. Can be popped and then provide no protection at all.

Bottom Line: Sisci can be spooky about backpacks and other bulky things that I make her wear, but she literally does not notice the Kong Cloud Collar.

Product Review: Kong Tuff N' Lite Pig

This Kong Tuff N' Lite Pig is definitely one of Sisci's new favorite toys. It's durable enough for tons of biting and squeaking fun, but weighs almost nothing. This toy is marketed for power chewers, is light enough to be tosses around indoors, and floats. We have a pink pig, there is also a blue octopus and a green frog available.

As advertised, this toy is incredibly lightweight and bounces harmlessly off most indoor surfaces. We don't really have winter here in California, but I'm sure it would be great for indoor playtime when it's seriously cold outside. Ours spends a lot of time laying around the yard.

 We haven't yet tested the seaworthiness of the pink pig, but I would be shocked if something this lightweight could possibly sink. I've heard that they can take on a bit of water, though.

Photo by Erin Koski

While this is advertised as being for power chewers, it isn't really a chew toy. The Kong Tuff N' Lite products are definitely for supervised, interactive play. They are, however, more durable than the average "indoor" dog toys. They are also lighter than the usual 2 lb. hunk of rubber toys for serious chewers.

Sisci loves to bite her pink pig. She insists on carrying a toy in her mouth every time she goes outside (but not when she comes back in) and the pig is the first thing she grabs if it isn't already laying out in the yard.

Pros: Really, really lightweight, as advertised. Squeak is not annoyingly loud. More durable than a tennis ball, and bigger than one so it's safer for larger dogs.

Cons: After one day ours was full of punctures. It hasn't taken any further damage, but it's not exactly pretty now.

Bottom Line: I'm kind of disappointed that Sisci hasn't torn it open yet, because I'd really like to see what's inside there. Maybe open-cell low-density foam? It doesn't feel empty.

Product Review: Kong Jumbler

The Kong Jumbler is a large, durable squeaker toy with a tennis ball trapped inside. There are handles on either side for shaking, tossing, and tugging. It comes in two sizes, round and oblong, and two sizes. Ours is a medium round ball.

Photo by Erin Koski

We're big fans of Kong around here, but some of their more recent offerings have been a bit short on real-world functionality. Sometimes think they just dream stuff up and then put it in stores without asking questions like "In what ways could this possibly go wrong?"

Fortunately the Jumbler is one of the better thought-out toys by Kong. It's not a durable rubber chew toy, this is more for interactive play or dogs who don't make it their mission in life to shred every toy. It's plenty sturdy though, and will handle quite a lot of biting and flinging.

Photo by Erin Koski

This toy reminds me of our Jolly Pets Teaser Ball, with it's eternally trapped inner tennis ball. Unfortunately, it has been nearly as big a flop as the teaser ball. Sure, it's fun to carry around and bite, but the ball within the ball doesn't seem to be adding anything. I think my dogs are too smart for this toy, they can tell immediately that the inner ball is inaccessible so they don't bother with it.

Pros: Big enough for giant breeds to play with safely. Handles make it easy to bite and pick up. Squeaks and makes tennis-ball-rolling-around-inside noises. Durable enough to handle pretty much anything except a dog deliberately chewing a hole in it.

Cons: Not actually a chew toy, can be gnawed into pieces by a determined dog. Translucent plastic becomes opaque with age.

Bottom Line: Nobody around here is into this ball-within-ball idea.

Kong Marathon vs Everlasting Treat Ball

Now that we've had the Kong Marathon and Starmark's Everlasting Treat Ball for a while, I think it's time to compare them directly and see how they stack up. We currently have two Kong Marathon toys, a large green ball and a small blue bone. Our Everlasting Treat Ball lineup includes one large Everlasting Treat Ball, one medium Everlasting Bento Ball, one medium Everlasting Groovy Ball, and a small Everlasting Treat Wheeler.

The Facts
Both the Starmark and Kong edible chew refills come in packs of two. At Petsmart a pack of large Kong Marathon refills costs $8.99 and a pack of small refills costs $6.99. A small pack of Everlasting Treats is $4.99, medium is $5.99 and large Everlasting Treats are $8.99. Everlasting Treats come in a variety of flavors, including chicken, hickory, vanilla mint, bacon, liver, and a chicken flavor that is wheat, corn, and soy-free. Kong Marathon treats only come in one flavor. Kong Marathon toys are available in two sizes, Starmark's Everlasting Treats and toys come in three.

Taste Test
While my dogs will eat almost anything, they definitely prefer the Kong Marathon treats to the Everlasting Treats. A Kong Marathon treat placed in the Kong Marathon ball or bone will inevitably be finished in one sitting. The Everlasting Treats aren't quite so irresistible, they can hang around for several days depending on the flavor, and sometimes I have to resort to bribery to get them to finish.

Ease of Use
It might be easier to pop treats into the Kong Marathon toys, I originally used a spoon to help pop the lip of the toy over the treat. As the ball gets chewed up, it has become much easier to get the treat into it. The Starmark Everlasting Treats can be tough to get into any of the toys, the trick is to get the treat a tiny bit wet first. Even a little bit of water spread across the treat with my finger works, as does spritzing the toy itself. Still, the loaded toy is supposed to dry before being given to the dog.

Capacity
Not only do Kong Marathon and Everlasting Treat toys hold durable edible chews, they also have space to hold kibble, peanut butter, and other small treats. The large Kong Marathon ball holds about 3/4 a cup of kibble, the small bone holds about 1/4 cup. The large Everlasting Treat Ball holds a quarter cup of kibble and two Everlasting Treats. The medium Everlasting Bento Ball holds less than 1/4 cup.

Durability
After about eight refills, our green Kong Marathon ball is looking pretty sad. The edges are getting all crumbly and I can easily pull bits off with my fingers. The Everlasting Treat Ball has had at least that many refills, the Everlasting Bento Ball has been used a dozen times or more. Both of the Starmark toys are still holding up just fine. They have some small splits around the edges of the treat hole now, and those make it easier to get the treat itself loaded. The splits do not appear to be getting any larger at this point.

Bottom Line
According to Brisbane and Ru, the Kong Marathon edible chews taste better. According to me, the Everlasting Treat Ball is infinitely more durable. The Starmark Everlasting toys show little to no wear after a lot more refills, while the large Kong Marathon ball is already falling apart. I've seen the Kong Marathon toys on clearance recently, I'm really hoping the Kong Company is taking this idea back to the drawing board and will come out with a more durable version in the future.

Don't Bleach Kongs.

Shortly after acquiring our purple Senior Kong, it rolled off the counter and into the sink. I had been soaking some scary tupperware in bleach water, and didn't find the purple Kong in there until the next morning. I had originally thought that bleaching Kongs was cool, but my purple Kong ended up with white streaks on it that I couldn't rinse or soak off.

Photo by Erin Koski

The Kong Company is pretty cool, so I sent them a message asking whether the purple streaky Kong was still safe to use. The reply I got back was pretty cool, they were happy to hear from me and get some feedback about how their product was doing in the wild.

It turns out that bleaching Kongs is a no-go:

"I would suggest replacing the Senior KONG. The KONG natural rubber, althought it appears smooth, is actually porous and can absorb materials over time. The bleach could have soaked into the rubber and we would not want Brisbane to consume that."

So there is the official word on bleaching Kongs. Happily, my Kong was still covered by the company's 30 day warranty. Standard procedure is to take the damaged toy plus the receipt back to the store where it was purchased and get a refund or exchange it for a bigger/tougher Kong. I ended up sending the purple Kong plus a printout of my Amazon order directly to the Kong Company. It takes a while, but they are sending us a new purple Kong.

Communicating with the Kong Company has been a lot of fun. The person I messaged visited my blog, noted that I do rescue and fostering, and sent me some coupons to get some new Kong for my monsters.