It may be time for a spring clean of your dog toys, says Grantham pet expert Sara Barnes

With Spring just around the corner your mind is probably drawing up a list of thing that need to be washed, sorted or tidied up, especially with Easter just around the corner, writes Grantham pet expert Sara Barnes.

My mum started this last week and whilst sorting the kitchen cupboards found a couple of tins with best before dates of 2022, so those have been put in the bin. Now dog toys don’t have a best before date, but dog treats do, so it is worth checking the dates on the treats that you might have lying around the house, if they are out of date, or you can’t remember when you opened them it’s probably a good idea to get rid of them.

Now, back to dog toys. When was the last time you cleaned your dogs toys? If they are the ones in the house, I am hoping you are thinking it wasn’t that long ago, but what about the ones in the garden? Toys that your pets leave in the garden are probably the cause of tummy upsets and possibly parasitic issues your dog could be suffering from. Remember toys in the garden, could be slimed by slugs and snails, other animals or easily dropped by your dog in dog waste and other nasties in the garden.

In a perfect world we shouldn’t be leaving the dogs toys in the garden overnight and picking up any waste as soon as possible after the dog does its business. Even then a monthly deep clean of the toys is a good idea, and if you have a multi dog household and the toys are shared you could do it weekly.

So how do you clean their toys? My suggestion is anything that is rigid is placed in a dishwasher or washed in a washing up bowl like you would your own plates and cups. Anything that is soft can go through the washing machine with an antibacterial detergent. Just be careful with what you put in the tumble dryer and if you opt for drying them on the washing line that your dog isn’t tempted to try and jump up to pull them down.

Happy cleaning!