Are Tennis Balls Bad for Dogs?
Yes, mostly - but not for all the reasons circulating online. Two of the common claims are well founded and one is largely a myth. Here is the honest version.
Short answer: tennis balls are a poor long-term choice for two solid reasons. The felt is mildly abrasive and wears down tooth enamel over years of repeated fetching, and the hollow two-piece construction means a large dog can compress a ball and get it into the airway, or strip the cover and swallow pieces. Occasional use by a small dog is a low risk. Daily use by a big dog over a decade is not. The frequently repeated claim that tennis balls are coated in toxic chemicals is largely unfounded for modern balls.
The case against: three claims, assessed
1. Tooth wear - well supported
Tennis ball felt is a woven nylon and wool blend, and it is designed to grip a racquet string, which means it is designed to be abrasive. Add the grit and sand a ball picks up on the ground and you have a mild grinding compound.
Veterinary dentists describe this as "blunting" - the canine and carnassial teeth of habitual tennis-ball fetchers wear flat over years, and in advanced cases the wear exposes dentine or opens the pulp cavity, which means pain and root canal treatment or extraction. The important qualifier is dose: this is a cumulative effect from thousands of repetitions, not something that happens in a month. A dog that fetches a tennis ball twice a year is not at risk. A Labrador doing forty retrieves a day for ten years is.
2. Choking and obstruction - well supported and more urgent
Two separate mechanisms. First, a tennis ball is hollow and compressible, so a large dog can squash one into an oval that passes further into the throat than its 2.6-inch diameter suggests - and then it springs back and seals. Second, dogs strip and swallow the felt and the rubber shell, and both cause intestinal obstructions that need surgery.
This is the part of the case that should change your behaviour, because unlike tooth wear it is an acute risk rather than a cumulative one. Any dog over about 20kg should not be given a standard tennis ball. See our ball safety page for what to do if it happens.
3. Toxic chemicals - largely a myth
This is the claim that circulates most and stands up least. The story usually says tennis balls contain lead or toxic glues. Its origin appears to be a 2007 recall of some promotional pet-branded tennis balls made in China which tested positive for lead in the printed lettering - a real event, but a narrow one, involving branded novelty balls rather than tennis balls generally.
Standard tennis balls from established sporting brands are manufactured to sports-equipment standards, are handled by people constantly, and are not a meaningful lead exposure risk. The adhesives used are not appreciably more toxic than those in rubber dog toys. Be sceptical of cheap unbranded novelty "pet tennis balls" from unknown manufacturers - not because tennis balls are toxic, but because unknown manufacturers are unknown.
We would rather tell you this than repeat a scarier version, because the two real problems above are reason enough and the myth makes the genuine case easier to dismiss.
So when are tennis balls fine?
An occasional game with a small or medium dog that does not chew the ball, using a fresh clean ball, is a low-risk activity. If your spaniel has fetched the same tennis ball at the weekend for years and its teeth are fine, nothing here says you must stop. The advice to replace them applies to dogs that fetch heavily, dogs over about 20kg, and dogs that chew.
What to use instead
A purpose-made rubber fetch ball of the right diameter solves all three concerns at once: smooth rubber rather than abrasive felt, solid rather than compressible, and no cover to strip. It also bounces better and floats, which your dog will appreciate more than you will.
- The all-round replacement: the Chuckit! Ultra Ball in the correct size. Higher bounce, floats, no felt.
- For dogs that chew: a West Paw Jive or KONG Extreme Ball.
- For large breeds: anything with a through-hole, and never a 2.5-inch ball. See our German Shepherd guide for why.
Get the diameter right first - our size guide takes two minutes and it matters more than which brand you pick.
If you are keeping tennis balls anyway
- Replace them frequently and bin any ball where the felt has started to lift.
- Never leave a dog alone with one.
- Rinse the grit off - the grit does more abrasive damage than the felt alone.
- Use a size up if your dog is large, or better, do not use them for large dogs at all.
- Have your vet check the wear on the canine and carnassial teeth at the annual appointment.
Frequently asked questions
Are tennis balls toxic to dogs?
Do tennis balls really wear down dogs' teeth?
Can a dog choke on a tennis ball?
What is a good alternative to a tennis ball?
Is it OK for my dog to play with a tennis ball occasionally?
How we test
Every ball on this site is bought at full retail price with our own money. Nothing here is a sample sent by a brand, and no manufacturer sees a review before it is published.
Testing runs over a minimum of six weeks with four dogs chosen for genuinely different jobs:
- A Labrador who fetches hard but chews gently - the volume tester. If a ball survives him it has survived a lot of repetitions.
- A Staffordshire Bull Terrier who destroys most things within a fortnight. He decides every durability verdict on this site; the other three rarely mark a ball at all.
- A whippet who runs flat out and catches in the air. She is the reason we care about how a ball behaves in flight rather than just on the ground - whether it tumbles or flies true, whether it is light enough to catch cleanly at speed without jarring, and whether the surface gives enough grip for a dog to take it out of the air rather than bat it away. A ball that is fine to pick up off the grass can be genuinely unpleasant to catch, and nothing else in the group would have shown us that.
- A twelve-kilo terrier cross used to check whether smaller mouths can carry a ball comfortably, and whether the weight is manageable over a full walk.
We record bounce height from a two-metre drop onto paving, whether the ball floats in still water and how much of it sits above the waterline, throwing distance with a standard launcher, catchability in flight, and the physical state of the ball at two, four and six weeks. Balls that split, delaminate or lose their shape inside six weeks do not make the recommendations regardless of brand.
Where we have not tested something, we say so on the page rather than inventing a verdict. That currently applies to the automatic ball launchers, the light-up ball category, and some of the squeaky and treat-dispensing products - each carries a visible notice.