Warning on paper shredders...

[Marty]

Warning on paper shredders

PLEASE CROSS POST

From a well respected Borzoi person, and veterinarian, Elizabeth A Coney,
DVM of Kentucky.

She wrote:

Now - for every one of you that has a home paper shredder with an "auto on"
feature, I want you to go turn it off and unplug the paper shredder right
now.
Because night before last I was presented with a paper shredder containing
most of the tongue, ripped out by the base, and a very pretty sweet 1 1/2
year old lab cross whose owners euthanized her.

She always watched the paper go into the shredder, she thought it
fascinating. The "auto on" feature means the shredder sits there waiting for
something to get placed into it. Like an inquisitive
tongue.

I told them, "Dogs can do fine without a tongue, they have to learn to drink
and eat differently", but the owners didn't want to go there.
The look in her eyes said, "I'm sorry, I guess I wasn't supposed to do that,
it's all my fault". We all cried.

I cried when I read this, myself. In subsequent posts Beth says she has
learned that dogs who have lost more than half their tongues *don't* do as
well as she had been taught.
According to the veterinary literature it is also possible for animals to be
injured other places than
tongues

- a Basset lost an ear.
- a long-haired cat most of the skin on its side.
- a kitten a foot, etc.

She didn't mention any human injuries, but I can't imagine that a
toddler would be immune from either curiosity or injury.

[momPaws]

You know I thought about that too as Honey's tail has these long flowing hairs. So I always turn mine off just to be safe. That is a good reminder to us- thanks.

[k9Karen]

OMG - I never even thought about it! My shredder is real finicky and the auto "ON" doesn't work right, but I'm not taking any chances - shredder will be unplugged as soon as I finish typing this!

[tuffkittyt]

Oh geez.... I never thought of that. I have a Golden Retriever with a very long beautiful tail. That shreadder is going onto OFF now.

Thanks for the head''s up!


~tk