Toy Warning - Injury Leads To Tongue Amputation

[jeff t.]

Passing this on in case it saves another dog from this fate.

http://www.thechaistory.blogspot.com/

[Bill A]

Terrible story, thanks for the link. I have a problem with it though, wasn't the guy smart enough to know that to unlock the vacuum all he had to do was put another hole in the ball. He left the ball on the dogs tongue for the duration and went to the vet where they had to sedate him. Please stop and think for just one second and just puncture the thing when if first got stuck.

I'm not on the toy manufacturer's side, this is an awful story, but the owner should not have left the thing on for so long.

-Bill

[2tall]

I think a panicked average owner would not think of cutting a hole. Now at least, every one of us that reads this will! And pass it on to your pet owning friends.

Thanks Jeff.

[Page]

Wow! I have two of those balls at home....correction, I had two of those balls. Tonight they are going in the trash.

I have a problem with it though, wasn't the guy smart enough to know that to unlock the vacuum all he had to do was put another hole in the ball. He left the ball on the dogs tongue for the duration and went to the vet where they had to sedate him. Please stop and think for just one second and just puncture the thing when if first got stuck.

These balls are incredibly tough. I would not have the proper tools to put a hole in this ball and certainly not while my dog's tongue was inside. These balls are harder than kongs and very thick too. I have a power drill that could possibly punture the ball if it were sitting on a table perfectly still inside a vice, but there's no way on earth I'd try to drill into it if my dog's tongue was stuck inside for fear of further injury.

Terrible story.

[Patti Benton]

I have one of those in my house. I guess this is why I have it in a box and Ria doesn't get it.

[JusticeDog]

Wow! I have two of those balls at home....correction, I had two of those balls. Tonight they are going in the trash.



These balls are incredibly tough. I would not have the proper tools to put a hole in this ball and certainly not while my dog's tongue was inside. These balls are harder than kongs and very thick too. I have a power drill that could possibly punture the ball if it were sitting on a table perfectly still inside a vice, but there's no way on earth I'd try to drill into it if my dog's tongue was stuck inside for fear of further injury.

Terrible story.

And just think of how easy and inexpensive it would be for a toy manufacturer to do this, and avoid these injuries.

[Richard Finch]

Thanks for sharing.




Richard

[kpak]

Very sad story. I do agree with Bill though. The first thing I would have done is try to release the vacuum. Even if I cut the dogs tongue it would be better the result of leaving it there so long. I have a couple of these balls also and just checked them out, there is a hole it just has a small bit of rubber blocking the hole, probably from the mold. Should have been an easy thing for the manufacturer to fix the problem. They are certainly tough but I just removed the extra rubber blocking the holes and then just to see I took the scissor I used and pushed it through the thick part of the ball and it went through pretty easy. Then I put the scissor in the hole and pushed it over and it cut right through a thick part of the ball. Tough yes, but not that tough.

[Flats3]

I experienced this same problem. At the time I thought I had the dumbest dog in the world to get her tongue stuck in a ball but now I realize how lucky I was not to lose her tongue.

Although suction may create the initial problem, the real issue is that the dog then panics and flexes their tongue muscle making it almost impossible to get off. I tried sticking my fingers down the side of her tongue and even rolling her tongue into a tube shape to get it off but the hole was too small.

For those of you that are looking at the ball and thinking that it should be fairly easy to cut off, consider that the ball is inside a dogs mouth that is drooling profusely, yanking their head around and pulling their tongue back into their mouth with the ball because they don't want you messing with it.

After I realized that I needed help I rushed the dog to the emergency vet which fortunately is only about 10 minutes away. Of course the dog did this on a Sunday so I could pay more to have it removed.

The vet and two lab assistants couldn't get the ball off so they sedated her and as soon as the tongue muscles relaxed the ball came right off. I thought the $250 cost was bad until I read the story about Chai and learned his owner paid $5,000 and lost the dogs tongue. Our dog completely recovered.

If you have any of these balls please don't chance this happening to your dog. Throw them away and don't consider Four Paws products when you look for a replacement.

Hal Ronin