KONG Classic Dog Toy, Large

I’ve had three dogs over the years that have enjoyed kongs, and we’ve gone through about maybe 15 of them. In April, I recently purchased two medium size red ones from chewy for my senior dogs who are 13 and 11. when they arrived they were covered with a white powder and were dull with a chemical smell instead of the glossy red that they always have been. I washedthem and try to get the powder off And there’s still a permanent donuts and white powder aspect. You can see in the photos I put peanut butter in them and gave them to my dogs and they started licking, but then would walk away and lick their lips like it tasted bad. I then licked the Kong myself and it burned with an acid chemical taste, no matter how many times I washed them that taste was still there, and I was not going to risk letting my dogs play with something that could be poisonous or toxic. It seems Kong has changed whatever material they used to use to something cheaper and full of chemicals and lower quality I’m very disappointed.

I find Kongs to be pretty reliable for moderate to aggressive chewers, but I will say it's important to inspect them after each use. I just bought 3 medium Kongs in April and rotate them in between hand washings. Needless to say I was surprised that the one in the photo was already destroyed and had to be tossed in the garbage. I rotate, inspect, and hand wash them after each use, so I don't feel there's a lot of wear and tear to warrant this Kong already breaking down. Plus my dog is pretty smart so she knows how to get the snacks out relatively easy so she doesn't chew on them very long. You can see in the photo after three months that the chew marks are pretty minimal. They do make a black Kong for aggressive chewers and I might have to switch to it. Despite not getting the longevity I would like, I would still buy Kongs and recommend to others.