ohmidog!

     A Long Island company recalled its Four Paws Pimple Ball last week after a Manhattan couple’s lab mix had to have his tongue removed following a freak accident with the popular rubber chew toy.
     Chai, 10 years-old, had emergency surgery after his tongue was sucked into a hole in the ball in late June. Massive swelling after the surgery led vets to remove the dog’s tongue a week later. 

“It’s been devastating,” the dog’s owner, Daniel Rechelbacher told the New York Daily News. “He was depressed, he was in pain and he couldn’t chew his food.”

Rechelbacher, 39, a hair stylist who runs Salon2b in lower Manhattan said he plans to sue Four Paws, Inc. Videos on Rechelbacher’s blog show the dog whimpering, being hand-fed and drinking through a giant syringe.

Four Paws posted a recall and warning on its website, Tuesday.

The company said it has stopped shipping the toys to distributors. It asked retailers to remove them from the shelves and asked customers to return them.

Four Paws executive Barry Askin said a defect in the product’s mold sealed one of the ball’s two holes, creating a vacuum effect that could trap a tongue. The Daily News reported that Chai isn’t the only casualty of the Pimple Ball.

In 2005,a 5-year-old lab mix had to be euthanized after his tongue got caught in the toy, swelled and would not heal, the Daily News reported.

Chai is slowly recovering from his ordeal, and is learning how to eat and drink without a tongue, but is still unable to cool himself through panting.

(Photo: Chai’s Pimple Ball, from Daniel Rechelbacher’s blog)