I received a message from one of our pup pals, Bailey, about a heartbreaking incident that started with a very innocuous looking toy. This is the story of Chai, a beautiful 10 year old lab mix.
On Sunday, June 22, 2008 my 10-year old lab mix, Chai, sustained a severe injury from a product that the company Four Paws Inc, produces. The toy I’m referencing is the pimple ball with bell. (Item #20227-001, UPC Code 0 4566320227 9)
While chewing on the toy, a vacuum was created and it effectively sucked his tongue into the hole in the ball. From speaking with my vet, this likely occurred because there is not a second hole in the ball preventing the vacuum effect from happening. I became aware of this when Chai approached a friend at my home whimpering with the ball in his mouth. She tried unsuccessfully to remove the ball but the tongue had swollen and could not be released.
Chai was taken to the Animal Medical Center (an emergency care facility in New York City) and was treated by Dr. Nicole Spurlock to have the ball removed. Because the size of the opening on the ball was so small, all circulation to his tongue was cut off. The doctors had to sedate him in order to remove it. Once the ball was removed, his tongue swelled to the point that he could no longer put it in his mouth. Chai was sent home with care instructions and to be observed overnight for any changes.
By the following morning his tongue continued to swell.
He was taken to his regular vet, Dr. Timnah Lee, for treatment. He was admitted and kept sedated for a period of three days during which time they were treating his wounds and waiting to determine how much of his tongue could be saved. On June 26, 2008 Chai had his tongue amputated.
He was kept in after-care for an additional three days. On Sunday June 29th I brought Chai home from the vet with a barrage of home care instructions, to last for an additional 7 days. His next visit was to have his mouth re-examined and have the feeding tube in his neck removed.
The following is a link to an animal treatment clinic that has also documented the same injury to a Shepard mix.
I sent this information along with the reference to Petunia the french bulldog to Four Paws Inc, and it is their position that there just aren’t enough instances to do anything about this. I told their Insurance company’s case manager that was not a good enough excuse, It was inferred that my dogs value wasn’t much and that his pain and suffering don’t count as he is just a piece of property.
This should never happen to another animal again!
Chai’s owner now has over $5000 in vet bills as well as countless other bills that are associated with his care. Please take a minute to read the entire story of Chai so that we can get the word out about the Pimple Ball with bell toy. If the company refuses to take responsibility for its product then it’s our responsibility, as consumers, to take a stand and protect our innocent pets.
Some people give us all the gift of seeing how life should be lived. Lis Kristof is one of these people. She sent an email to her friends lettting them know that she would be dying soon but before that, she and her best friend, a Chinese Crested named Diva, would make one more agility run. Judy was kind enough to share the email and video with us.
Such grace and dignity! We should all meet our life’s end with such beauty! Thank you Lis and Diva.
And you’re right, Judy. Pull out the tissues.
if this don’t make you cry, nothin’ will!
Judy
Here is Lis’ email to her friends and supporters:
To all of my fellow agility competitors and friends,
Last Tuesday I was admitted to hospital, for eight years I have fought breast cancer. I have been diagnosed now with AML Leukemia and have been given approximately three weeks to spend on this wonderful earth. I have chosen not to do any more chemo as I believe I have received and given all this life has to give and take.
Guhan wanted a pup, but his mother was doubtful because the neighbours were not too keen on dogs.
Guhan wanted to adopt a pup. His mother had said a big “No!” Having a pup in a swanky apartment was not a joke and they didn’t want to antagonise their not-so-pet-friendly neighbours.
Thanks to Clementine’s furmom Kathy for this touching poem.
Their Messenger
This emissary has a gilded heart for all the furry ones
for the many souls whose time on Earth is done
and of the tales they tell, this messenger doth send
Media Aid Effort to Bring Fallen Soldier’s Dogs to USA
Peter Neesley hoped to bring the strays back to the U.S. from Baghdad where he had looked after them. Sgt. Neesley, 28, never made it home, but his dogs arrived in this country last week after a herculean effort led by family members, with media outlets helping out, too.
By Greg Mitchell
NEW YORK (February 12, 2008) — Peter Neesley hoped to bring the strays back to the U.S. from Baghdad where he had looked after them. Sgt. Neesley, 28, never made it home, but his dogs arrived in this country last week after a herculean effort led by family members, with media outlets helping out, too.
Martha was sitting in her living room watching television this Christmas Eve, alone as she had been for the last five years. All of her children had married and moved to the four corners of the nation, her youngest, a surgery resident at the Vet School across the state had planned on coming home, but had been assigned to work the emergency clinic and couldn’t find a replacement. Martha told herself that having Sally working to help the sick and injured animals this Christmas Eve was worth being alone, besides, Sally would be driving over for Christmas dinner the next afternoon.
All the animals had been fed and now were safely in either the kennel building or lazily laying around the house. Martha had to stop to think how many dogs she had at her house this Christmas; she sighed when she realized there were 16. She did rescue and the number of dogs was always changing with some dogs being adopted, and new abandoned dogs coming in. Feeling overwhelmed by the number of dogs she had and all the dogs still left in shelters to die because there was no room for them in rescue, Martha seriously wondered if she should stop working rescue. If she didn’t have all these dogs, she could have flown to any of her other children’s homes for the holidays to be with family. Besides, the heartbreak of seeing each dog in such need was beginning to really weigh on her.
BTW, keep an eye on this writer, Kathy promises to have some real staying power and I expect we’ll be hearing much more from her in the future!
Through Tear Washed Eyes
It was the weekend after Thanksgiving and Louise walked her black-and-tan Cocker mix through the hilly woods of her property out back. It was a cool morning with wispy fog trailing over the grass and threading through the trees.
Before they left the house, Louise put a yellow jacket on her furry companion. Her fur girl’s name was Daisy and she didn’t take well to the cold. Louise liked the bright color because it made spotting Daisy easier if she chased a ball into the nearby brush and trees.
It doesn’t matter what side of the Iraq War you’re on; this article is a touching, very personal account of how the constant danger in Iraq is separating this pet parent from the dog he loves.
Thanks to the LA Times for this real-life tearjerker.
In Iraq, a man bereft of his dog, his life
Amid the shooting, an Iraqi sent his pet away. He hopes that one day, in a safer world, he’ll run in the garden with Lucky again.
September 2, 2007
BAGHDAD — The writer is an Iraqi staffer in The Times’ Baghdad Bureau. His name is being withheld for his safety.
I hated to send Lucky away.
Lucky is my dog. He’s black and reddish-brown, with white on his paws and black spots on his face — probably a German shepherd mix. He looks a lot like the dogs that search our cars when we go into the Green Zone.
Dogsters are so talented! And they have so much empathy for our furfriends! This piece is by Dogster Darby’s furmom, Kathy Pippig Harris. She posted it in the Pet Poetry Group. Let me warn you that this is very powerful and could cause massive eye leakage.
I’ve Been So Hungry
When I was an older pup the boy where I lived would bring a bowl with a few morsels of leftover human food in it. I was so hungry I hurriedly started eating, then the boy would snicker, reach down and yank the bowl away. My tummy would rumble
because I was still hungry, but I would get nothing else to eat that day.
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