This review is on the Nylabone brand "Souper" 8.5" dog chew toy, but it applies to all Nylabone toys made of their signature nylon material.

In a day and age where veterinarians now tell us that giving our dogs bones from the butchers is a good way to break our dogs' teeth and/or harm their gums, I went on a search for a safe alternative with our veterinarian’s instruction, "Before purchasing any chew or toy for your dog, ask yourself if you would feel safe chewing on it.  If the answer is no, your dog is not safe either."  My dog is very particular in what he chews, and the surefire material is wood; however, wood is not the safest thing to give a dog because splinters can lodge in or cut his/her throat and/or digestive system.  After I gave him different chew toys, I found that my dog likes the Nylabone, and they make a wide variety of sizes which was nice because I could get a larger chew for my basset hound's big mouth.  What I did not realize is that the Nylabone is a dangerous chew toy.
Construction: The Nylabone chews are made of nylon cast into a mold, so there is nothing really special about their construction.  They appear very solid and sturdy, which they are for a short time.

Durability: My dog does not chew that much, and when he does I do not consider him a particularly hard chewer.  He chewed on the Nylabone when he felt like it for approx. four months.  If I had to place an amount of time he spent chewing on the bone in that four months, it would be less than two hours total.  After this time, I noticed that the bone's surface began fraying, showing a lighter color in nylon and looking fuzzy.  No chunks were missing or hanging off, so I did not think anything about it because any toy shows chew marks after use.

The Danger: I returned home from work one evening to find three puddles of vomit around the house and a very nervous, agitated, and salivating dog.  In the one puddle of vomit, I found small shavings of Nylabone, similar in size and appearance to thin drier lint.  My dog walked around the house hacking and coughing for hours, even after I gave him an appropriate cough medication.  Only after hours of comforting him and rubbing his throat did he fall asleep and the coughing stopped.  The next day he was fine.  I spoke to our veterinarian (who did not know I had purchased a Nylabone) who told me that Nylabones are known in the medical field to fray off fuzzy amounts--even small amounts--of nylon that become lodged in the dogs' throats and causes them to cough to the point of vomiting in an attempt to dislodge the uncomfortable, itchy material.  He told me that some dogs can become so excited about not being able to clear their throats even after repeated vomiting that they physically harm themselves scratching at their throat or chewing furniture, rugs, etc. in an attempt to eat material to clear their throats.  After doing further research online, I have found many similar cases as mine to back up my veterinarian's warning.  The Nylabone went in the trash that day.

Reflection: Some people might argue that dog toys wear out and need replacing, so the Nylabone is not flawed because it just needs replacing; however, I do not agree with this thinking because 1. the toy only had approx. two hours of use before it frayed and caused a medical problem, and 2. who would ever design and sell a chew toy that informs you it needs to be thrown away by causing your dog to cough, hack, and vomit?  It would be one thing if I knew chunks were breaking off the toy, but the amount of fuzz that came off could have easily been removed from the toy in the first half-hour of use.  I learned an important lesson that it is best to put away the toys while I am not home and only let my dog use them under supervision, but even under supervision this would have happened.  I think it is better to err on the side of caution and not risk harming your dog because of a poorly designed chew toy, unless you want to buy a new one as soon as ANY signs of wear appear.  For a dog toy, this thing not only is highly destructible buy highly dangerous.

Recommended: No