If there’s one thing I know for sure, it’s that true dog owners would do anything to protect their pooches from harm’s way.
So, you can imagine this dog owner’s horror, when he discovered his beloved doggo had part of his tongue chopped off during a trip to the groomers.
Lee Taiseng took his gorgeous white poodle, Mario, for a shampoo and trim at a pet salon in Bukit Batok, Singapore.
Later that day, Lee received a call from the manager to find out the groomer’s scissors had caused a ‘small slit’ in Mario’s tongue, which was bleeding.
Horrified by what he’d heard, Lee and his partner rushed to the vets to find not a ‘small slit’, but in fact the end of his dog’s tongue was actually dangling off.
On taking poor Mario to the animal hospital, vets decided to amputate the injured muscle, meaning the poorly pooch would be without part of his tongue for the rest of his life and a very painful recovery.
Lee has now spoken out against Paws Chu Kang grooming salon, insisting he rejected their offer of around £300 compensation for the injury.
Instead, he’s seeking a lifetime’s supply of food, grooming and doggy supplements, which the salon has refused.
Horrified Lee said:
Can you imagine the shock and horror we felt when we found out the ‘slit’ was actually a cut that extended three-quarters diagonally through his tongue?
We had no idea how long Mario was left bleeding for – and they admitted that they did not inform me immediately after the incident happened.
According to the vet, Mario’s tongue could have been saved if they had acted responsibly enough to rush Mario to the vet as soon as possible.
Due to the extended duration of inaction [estimated to be for a few hours], the dangling portion of the tongue had to be amputated, leaving Mario [with] a shorter tongue.
It was a painful recovery for Mario, who had to be syringe and spoon-fed until he learned how to lick up his food and water with a shortened tongue.
Although the salon covered the vet’s fees, Lee says he and the owners have been locked in a compensation dispute ever since.
The owners of Paws Chu Kang salon have apologised for the injury and said the employee who caused it has since left the company.
They told local media they had offered compensation of 1,300 Singaporean dollars (around £777), which was rejected by Lee and his partner.
In a statement, the salon said:
I would like to express my sincerest apologies to Mr Lee and Mrs Lee on what had happened to Mario during his grooming session with one of my ex-staff.
The previous employee we hired, and who committed the mistake is a licensed and experienced groomer with more than five years experience in the grooming industry.
The groomer is no longer employed with us.
As a dog owner myself, I understand how terrified and painful Mario must have felt during the incident.
Thus, I have been following up with Mrs Lee (Mr Lee’s wife) responsibly and rendered all assistance within my capability from the day this incident occurred.
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Emma Rosemurgey is an NCTJ trained Journalist who started her career by producing The Royal Rosemurgey newspaper in 2004, which kept her family up to date with the goings on of her sleepy north east village. She graduated from the University of Central Lancashire in Preston and started her career in regional newspapers before joining Tyla (formerly Pretty 52) in 2017, and progressing onto UNILAD in 2019.