Dangerous Toy - caused dog's tongue to be amputated!

[bessy-senior]

Didn't know where to put this post. But this is a warning about a certain toy for dogs - it's the pimple ball with bell from Four Paws Inc.

All the details and pictures of the toy (as well as the poor dog) are at this link: The Chai Story

In short, the ball has a hole which the dog's tongue was stuck in. The pressure created a vacuum, and the tongue was sucked in. The owner was unable to remove the ball from the tongue, and in the end the dog's tongue had to be amputated.

It's really heart-breaking to see the dog unable to do the simplest thing like drinking water :(

The company has agreed to withdraw all similar products. But in case anyone has a toy like this in their home...

[Nishasmom]

OMG, that is horrible . Poor dog.

[kina]

Oh thats horrible!
It's got me abit worried though, I always give Kina a kong with frozen goodies inside, to make the goodies stay inside while it freezes I have to block the small whole at the other end with cheese or peanut butter. Could this then cause the same vacuum effect as what happened to this poor dog? Anyone know of anything else I could do instead of blocking the hole....although I guess the kong toys have very large openings so this may not happen?

[Nishasmom]

Originally Posted by kina

Oh thats horrible!
It's got me abit worried though, I always give Kina a kong with frozen goodies inside, to make the goodies stay inside while it freezes I have to block the small whole at the other end with cheese or peanut butter. Could this then cause the same vacuum effect as what happened to this poor dog? Anyone know of anything else I could do instead of blocking the hole....although I guess the kong toys have very large openings so this may not happen?

What we do, is fill the kong with whatever...wrap the BIG hole with either saran wrap or glad press and seal. Wack the big end on the counter so the goodies fall downwards, then freeze in an up-right position.

Hope that makes sense .

[kina]

Makes total sense, will give it go! Glad press n seal has only just come out in New Zealand, it looks cool, this will be a great excuse to go and get some!

[Nishasmom]

Originally Posted by kina

Makes total sense, will give it go! Glad press n seal has only just come out in New Zealand, it looks cool, this will be a great excuse to go and get some!

Glade press 'n' seal is AWESOME

[bessy-senior]

Originally Posted by kina

Oh thats horrible!
It's got me abit worried though, I always give Kina a kong with frozen goodies inside, to make the goodies stay inside while it freezes I have to block the small whole at the other end with cheese or peanut butter. Could this then cause the same vacuum effect as what happened to this poor dog? Anyone know of anything else I could do instead of blocking the hole....although I guess the kong toys have very large openings so this may not happen?

Pretty scary isn't it? :( However, there is a simple safety solution for all these hole-type toys, which Four Paws admitted to have overlooked in that faulty batch -- there needs to be a smaller hole, along with the bigger main hole, so that the pressure/air can be released through this smaller hole and there won't be a vacuum created. If you are unable to find this type of smaller hole, just punch one with a nail or something.

[Static'sMum]

This story was horrible
Luckily Static doesnt have any toys like that.
What would have happened to poor Chai if no-one was home at the time of the incident??
I can't believe (well i can cause as long as they make money they dont really care) that a company would not instantly remove a product/cease production of it immediately after an incident like this.
Isn't that what they have whole departments for? Problem solve? Remove the product, suck it up that they failed, and design a new SAFE product.

Chai is just lucky to have such a caring owner that loves him.

I need to go and hug my boy now.

[Debbie Ervin]

I have a ball that looks simular to that that actually is hard and when you shake it it makes a noise, not bell but I am gonna check that for 2 holes and the number. Thank you and what a horrible thing to happen to that dog!

[stevcha]

This really pisses me off!!! The company knew about this issue with their product back in 2005 but took til now to do something. Here's an excerpt from the blog:

zbk57 said...
A friend just forwarded your blog to me. It was with shock and horror that I read about Chai's experience. My dog Cole was injured in exactly the same way in July of 2005. It was with the very same Four Paws ball. After phone calls and letters to the company I was assured the ball design would be changed. I have copies of what I sent to them. I was told several times this was just a freak accident and I agreed but still asked they change the design so that no other dog would suffer. I hope they did not tell you this had never happened before because I can assure you THEY KNEW about the problem in 2005!

Now to see that they did not respond and did not make changes and other dogs suffered needlessly makes me very sad. These balls are not sold in any stores near me, so I was not able to check to see if they had modified the design. My Coley boy died as a result of his injuries. He was a 5 year old bouncy beautiful lab mix that wagged his tail up till the very end when we let him cross the rainbow bridge due to the horrendous injury to his tongue.
Please write to me at onedogmatters@comcast.net if you would like more info about my interaction with this company.

Please spread the word about this company's negligence!!!!