Toy Recall!

This was posted on another forum:

*Warning Graphic pictures*
http://thechaistory.blogspot.com/2008_08_01_archive.html

Basically, the dog was chewing on a ball, and a vacuum effect was created sucking his tongue into the ball. He was taken to the vet where they removed the ball and his tongue had to be amputated. It was a rubber ball with bumps all over it.

Wow that's insane. The dog daycare I used to work at had one of those toys. Luckily it was only in the little dog room and their tongues aren't big enough to get jammed, but jeesh.

She mentions she has to re-teach her dog how to eat and drink, but how does a dog drink without a tongue?

Gotta wonder why his owner didn't quickly cut or drill a hole in the side of the ball, releasing the vacuum . . .

four paws makes the cheapest crappiest toys too

That was my first thought, too. Maybe they panicked?

why didn't they throw the ball away after the first instance?

I'm sure there are ALL kinds of things the people could have done differently. However, as a toy maker, you need to be MORE aware of the dangers your toy may cause and change the toys accordingly. Imagine if they weren't home? what would have happened then? I think the point of the story is that she wants to toy company to discontinue the ball to prevent it from happening to someone else. She didn't say in the blog she was suing, just that she wanted that fixed so it didn't effect anyone else's dog.

And, as the toy maker, there may not be enough to discontinue the ball, but certainly adding another hole wouldn't hurt! if you know it can happen and why, then why wait until they're are lots of horror stories? Why not solve it before it becomes huge? especially if all you have to do is add a hole somewhere else on the ball?

JMO though...

It sounds like they didn't realize there was even a problem until it was too late and his tongue was swollen to the point that it was bigger than the hole. if he regularly carried that ball around and if he wasn't crying then I probably wouldn't have thought anything was up either at first

If the company has been contacted with all these instances and still refuse to do anything I would sue them for vet bills... I'm not sue happy but they aren't willing to admit there is any problem at all and more dogs will suffer for it

My guess is with a syringe.

My friend Tanya emailed me about this earlier today actually and I was thinking about hopping onto Chaz and posting it, but Cristy beat me to the punch.

This is insane... my first thought was why they didn't put a hole on the other side to release the vacuum as well...

I sent an email to them a few hours ago, just got one back...

Thank you for your recent note expressing concern over the Four Paws® Pimple Ball with Bell. We were equally alarmed to learn that a dog may have injured himself while playing with this toy.

Dogs have been enjoying the Pimple Ball with Bell for more than a decade with over 500,000 units sold. In all the years this product has been on the market, this is the first injury of this nature that we are aware of. Unfortunately, accidents sometimes happen. That’s why we recommend that dogs always be supervised when they are playing with any toy. We take great care in developing safe products for pets and their owners.

At this point we have identified the problem and are not shipping any more Pimple Balls. We have contacted customers that carry this product and have asked them to immediately return their inventory.

Thank you for your concern and feedback. Please know that we are in direct communication with the pet owner whose dog was injured. At Four Paws, happy pets and satisfied pet owners are our number one priority. Rest assured we will continue to work hard to deliver on our priority.

Sincerely,

Allen Simon
President, CEO
Four Paws Products

Sent by Haley Birk on behalf of Allen Simon

Eeeek.
Makes me thankful my dogs have nothing but tennis balls and sticks to play with.

Do you think this could easily happen with a kong, then?

Kongs have two holes, one on each end. They do not create any vacuums, thankfully.

I just spent the last 15 mins running around checking all the dogs balls to make sure there are 2 holes in them so this never happens. I have actually gotten a ball like this before for my dogs. They never showed interested so it ended up in the trash...

How scarey that would be...poor pup

Sounds like an official "quiet the crowd" letter.

But it is true, accidents happen. There really is NOWAY to foresee every type of situation a dog, kid, adult, anything could get themselves into........hence the warning on everything you buy to use "while supervised" I think a "vacuum effect" should have been obvious to designers, but it wasn't or drilling another hole in the other side would have been a VERY easy fix.

I think suing or recommending to sue this toy company is a little over the top..........I am SURE that toy recommended supervision (because they ALL do), and it obviously didn't happen. So while this is very sad and tragic, there was no blatant disregard by that toy company for the dogs safety and the owner must take her share of the responsibility for it's happening. (that might sound harsh, and I don't mean it to..........it just is what it is)

Lots of dogs have had issues with bones EVEN raw ones but we continue to give them to our dogs (some or most of us anyway) because it's never happened to us and there are benefits to be had from them. I know the risks of doing so, and I also know there are chances with every toy I give Orson because he is a destruction king..........I can't NOT give him things, I just try to keep an eye on him while he has them.


I hope Chai can live a long happy life and get acclimated to eating/drinking/playing without his tongue. I have much respect for his owner for doing all she can to see that that happens.

And there is a video showing the dog biting at the water.

Check your Kongs folks and make sure that food doesn't block that 2nd hole !

Kharma often drinks by putting her muzzle in the water and drinking without lapping, so it's not impossible - just a different way of drinking that he'll have to learn.

One of my dogs sucked like a horse at times .!

That will be the first thing they should be done, don't they know how to free something within a vacuum? Poor dog.