Dog Loses Tongue in Paper Shredder

Saving Caine: Dog's survival depends on ability to learn new tricks

January 10, 2010
BY DONNA VICKROY

Ashley Taylor's new year began with a nightmare.

In the hours before dawn Jan. 1, while the Glenwood elementary school teacher was in Atlanta for the holiday, her 2-year-old boxer, Caine, was about to learn that curiosity can take a toll on dogs too.

"It was a horrific accident," said Ashley's mom, Pat Taylor, who was watching Caine at her Park Forest home for the weekend. "I would hate for this to happen to anyone else."

Pat Taylor awoke to horrible yelping. Above the ruckus she heard an all-too-familiar sound - the whirring of the paper shredder.

For some reason Caine had licked at the shredder, which was sitting atop the kitchen garbage can. His tongue got caught in the machine.

"(The tongue) was three inches into it when I pulled the plug," Pat said.

The screeching and the blood splattering upset Pat's own dogs, who began barking and nipping at Caine.

"It was complete chaos," Pat recalled. "The place looked like a crime scene."

Pat, a nurse at Ingalls Hospital, was able to calm the brood for a few seconds but then, unexpectedly, Caine bit through his tongue to release the device. The other dogs started up again.

Pat grabbed her coat and Caine and headed for the Crestwood Emergency Veterinary Clinic.

"It wasn't even light out yet," she said.

The vet suggested putting the dog down. Dogs need their tongues to eat, drink and cool themselves on hot days. But Pat knew her daughter would be devastated. She wanted to give the animal every chance at survival.

So the doctor sedated Caine and kept him at the clinic.

After she got home, Pat called her son, Michael, who came right over. Then she called Ashley, who took the first flight home.

After visiting her dog at the clinic later that night, Ashley began researching the accident.

It is possible for dogs to survive without their tongues, she learned. There are case studies to prove it.

The next day, Caine was transported to Buffalo Grove for a specialist to install a feeding tube in his abdomen.

His veterinarian, Patrick King, of Chicago Heights, gives the dog a "very guarded" prognosis. The feeding tube is temporary.

"This dog will have to learn a whole new way to eat and drink," King said. "He will have to be willing to do that."

Helping his cause, King said, is the fact that the Taylors are dedicated to the animal and motivated to make the new system work.

"He's only 2," Ashley said. "We are going to help him push through this so he can live a healthy, happy life and continue being the 75-pound lovable lap dog that he is."

Pat, Michael, Ashley and Ashley's boyfriend, Ryan Phelps, all have taken shifts to watch the dog around the clock. Other family members and friends have sent donations to help pay the vet bills, expected to be more than $3,000.

Ashley even started a blog, on which she keeps friends and her third-grade students at Longwood Elementary School posted on Caine's progress. She also wants to alert other dog owners to the potential danger of paper shredders.

The Consumer Product Safety Commission is aware of the hazards, to both pets and children.

Between January 2000 and September 2005, the CPSC received 50 reports of finger injuries - including lacerations and amputations - from home paper shredders. The majority of those injured were children younger than 5, although at least two dogs have endured similar experiences, and there are other cases of dogs getting their ears caught in shredders.

Among the victims was a 5-year-old boy in Dallas who had two fingers shredded when the device he was feeding paper into hesitated and then started up again, yanking his fingers into the blades.

In 2007, Underwriters Laboratories introduced new requirements for shredders carrying the UL label. They must have an on/off switch and better safety warnings. Machines also have to pass a test to show that little fingers can't fit into the opening.

The CPSC recommends people phase out their old machines in favor of the newer, safer ones.

CONDITION UPDATES

Get updates on the condition of Caine, the boxer who got his tongue caught in a paper shredder, at Caine's Cause.

For more information about shredder dangers, visit the Consumer Product Safety Commission Web site at http://www.cpsc.gov/CPSCPUB/PUBS/5127.html.

http://www.southtownstar.com/neighborhoodstar/matteson/1981106,011010dogpapershredder.article

 

Psst.....some of us have been permanently banned from said site and can't see what you're linking to.....

 

:eek: Holy chit! I hope everything turned out ok.....