I subscribe to a daily story from a site called Petwarmers. I was not prepared for what I read today (actually it was from another day but I am just getting around to catching up on e-mail).
I know that this was a freak occurrence and probably would never occur again with any dog, but frankly it makes me glad that I do my own grooming.
GROOMING CONCERNS
by Angela Walker
On December 14, I took five of my Collies and an English Setter
to my groomers.
When I arrived at 6:30 to pick them up, one Collie was finished,
one was on the table and the English Setter was finished. I loaded
the one Collie in my car and sent my neighbor home with the one on
the table and the Setter. That left three still drying and needing
to be brushed and trimmed.
The groomer put Peaches on the table to be groomed. She has
never liked to be groomed and I take her to the vet to tranquilize
her to clip her nails. In the past, I have never accompanied Peaches
when she was being groomed.
When the groomer started brushing her out, Peaches started
really giving her a hard time, so I was trying to hold her as well.
We finally ended up putting a muzzle on her because she had lightly
bitten me and tried to bite the groomer. At this point, I should
have taken her off the table!
However, what happened next, I will live with for the rest of my life.
I decided if I went outside she might calm down. I walked from
the groomer's room and out the front door. I turned to look back
through the window and thought I saw my dog do a flip on the table --
ending up hanging herself.
I ran back in and lifted her up while the groomer struggled to
get the noose off her neck. Peaches tongue was hanging out and the
look on her face was sheer terror. The groomer used a choker collar
leash like you get at a shelter when retrieving a dog.
When we finally got her back on the table, I noticed another
choker collar leash around her belly, apparently to restrain her as
well. When I took her to the car I noticed she was not walking
properly.
The next morning, she was not any better so I called my vet. I
took her in and she said her neck and back were swollen. She kept
her overnight and called the next morning to tell me she was having
problems with her kidneys and she was going to try and flush them
out. Sunday morning she called and said her kidneys were failing.
She called the emergency clinic in Beaumont and they had a surgeon
waiting for me.
My friend and I picked her up and rushed her to Beaumont, with
her throwing up blood a couple of times on the way. Within 30
minutes she was in surgery.
It turned out that the leash around her waist caused her bladder
to burst, causing a hole the size of a thumb. Urine was seeping
into all her internal organs. Also, when it burst, it caused all of
her organs to move up towards her head. The vet thinks her bladder
was full when the leash tightened around her stomach. The emergency
clinic jumped started her kidneys and released her back to my vet
Monday morning.
She came home Tuesday afternoon but will have to be kept quiet
for a couple of weeks while she heals internally. She is still at a
high risk for infection so I am watching her closely.
This has cost almost $3,000. When my friend called the groomer
to ask her to stop using the belly strap she got all defensive and
said Peaches was fine when she left and she did not do anything
wrong. It was my fault because I got Peaches all worked up and that
I lied to her about Peaches only being 2 because she believes she is
a senior dog. She told my friend to never call her again and do not
step foot in her shop. As if I ever would.
The warning: Make sure your groomer uses the correct grooming
straps, not choker collars. I don't know if the belly strap is
common practice but I would think they would use a grooming loop and
not a choker.
-- Angela Walker <karasaunt @ yahoo.com>
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