The yarn I used for my cat's lion mane had a weird florescent tag I almost ignored

So last month I was making a lion mane for my cat Mochi using this chunky yellow yarn from a dollar store bin. I noticed the label had some tiny print about a flammability test and I almost tossed it without reading. Turns out that cheap yarn was actually treated with a flame retardant that can irritate pet skin if they chew on it. I only caught it because my neighbor's kid was hanging around and asked why the yarn said 'not for pet use' in small letters near the bottom. I switched to a plain cotton yarn from Michaels that cost about 6 bucks more and added a little felt mane instead. Mochi wore it for our halloween photo shoot and had zero issues, but I was surprised how many craft yarns have additives that are fine for scarves but not for animals. Have any of you checked the fiber content on your costume materials or am I just the paranoid one here?

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emma52225d ago

Did you check the fiber content before you cut into the yarn? I had a similar scare with some shiny orange yarn for a pumpkin costume a couple years ago. The label said it was acrylic but there was no warning about pets, so I didn't think twice. My cat Chester ended up licking the sleeve of his little costume and got a weird red patch on his chin, which cleared up after I washed it and swapped to cotton. Now I always smell the yarn too, if it has that strong chemical smell I just skip it. You're not paranoid, it's so easy to miss those tiny warnings when you're just excited about a project.