Update: In response to several commenters who claimed that it’s not biologically possible for a dog’s ear to fall off, we called a veterinarian at Rama 8 Pet Hospital to verify the pet owner’s claim this afternoon.
Alright animal lovers, listen up.
A Thai woman’s tragic cautionary tale about dyeing your pet’s fur is going viral today after her Pomeranian’s ear allegedly fell off from a severe allergic reaction after she died in neon pink.
“There was too much dye on the dog’s ear,” the pet owner posted on Facebook about her dog “Diffy” yesterday.
“It started as typical allergy symptoms like itchiness, burns to the skin, flakiness. But when the scabs from the wound fell off, her ear fell of as well,” she explained.
According to one of the veterinarians at Rama 8 Pet Hospital, it is indeed biologically possible and there are lots of reasons why the dog’s ear could have fallen off.
“The chemical could have burned the ear off, the salon could have done it too harshly, the dog could have developed a severe allergy to the dye. This could have been caused by a lot of reasons,” she told us.
Photo: Facebook/ Ampaipan WachapornPrior to this post, the pet owner had posed a question on her Facebook page regarding Diffy’s ears, which usually point up but started drooping down after she underwent a 40-minute foil wrap fur dyeing process.
“The store said it’ll return to normal in 2-3 days,” wrote the pet owner.
According to Live Science, human hair dye should “never be used on dogs or other pets” as it contains toxic chemicals, including hydrogen peroxide and bleach.
This can cause external burns if the substances get into an animal’s eyes, leading to blindness. What’s more, because dogs instinctively lick themselves, fur dye can cause internal burns or poisoning
Many animal organizations including PETA have spoken up against fur dyeing.
“People need to know that there is no safe way to dye a dog or any other animal.” a PETA spokesperson told HuffPost UK Style after Parisian fashion model Lia Catreux posted photos of her dog dyed hot fuschia.
“They can get water in their ears (which isn’t as simple as when it happens to a human; it can lead to all sorts of complications) or have an allergic reaction – even a fatal one. There is simply no way to know how your animal will react,” the spokesperson said
“PETA would urge people to let dogs be dogs: Love and appreciate them for their natural beauty and leave them out of our confusing human shenanigans.”
