Animal Lovers Furious After Red Dye Causes Small Dog To Lose Her Ear

Dog grooming is big business, with thousands of dogs around the world getting personalized treatments on a daily basis. However, a story has emerged recently showing how this seemingly innocuous practice can go horribly, horribly wrong.

A tiny dog’s ear has fallen off after their owner decided to have them dyed bright red at a grooming salon. Now – animal lovers and advocates everywhere are furious, myself included.

The poor little dog’s name is Diffy and his owner, from Hua Hin in eastern Thailand, took him to a grooming salon and asked them to dye her Pomeranian’s ears and tail a bright, vivid red.

Dogs are not toys, and any dyeing procedure like this is not to be taken lightly. Sadly, this case brought the absolute worst-case scenario, and resulted in the poor dog losing one of her ears.

After the groomer performed the procedure, which involved keeping the dye on the pup with foil for over 40 minutes, the owner noticed that Diffy’s ears had become droopy. Normally, they are pert and stick straight up.

The owner told the grooming salon his ears didn’t look right – but she was reassured they would perk back up in ‘two or three days’.

Having been subjected to harsh dye on its fur for so long, the Pomeranian’s owner noticed that his little ears seemed to be burning. The dog was having a severe reaction to the dye – which was certainly not ‘animal-safe’.

After a few hours, the owner grew concerned because Diffy’s ears started to itch and soon, she noticed skin was starting to flake off as well. Concerned, her owner went online, anonymously, to ask for help and advice:

“Before the dye, my dog’s ears were up. But after I went to the pet store and the dog stylist colored his ear with aluminum foil for 40 minutes without heat, I took him home and his ears turned out like this. They were folded down. The stylist said that I have to wait for two or three days and his ears will recover. Has anybody experienced this before?” she asked the internet.

Of course, after posting her situation online, many opinions came flooding back. Some people were doing their best to offer practical advice, while others were shaming her for being such an irresponsible pet owner in this first place.

The general consensus among the latter was that there are many animal-safe dye products out there, but that she didn’t do her research.

It wasn’t long after posting her first plea for help online that she posted another update that was much more shocking – poor Diffy’s ear had now started to fall off.

“Diffy’s left ear is now falling off because of the color dye. The pet groomer put too much dye on him. My dog’s ear was itchy, burnt, turned black, cracked, and eventually fell off. I don’t blame the grooming store but I blame myself for wanting to have his ears dyed,” read the unnamed woman’s second post.

Sadly, the dog’s entire ear had burned and fallen off – and the owner shared a photo. Warning: this photo is graphic, and could be distressing to some readers.

Within minutes, the photos began to circulate through the internet and spread like wildfire, with dog lovers outraged at the negligence shown by the owner. Soon, the photos caught the attention of veterinarians and animal charities, who were compelled to comment.

Neeyada Sirisampandh, who runs the dog rescue group Mid Road Lover in Bangkok, was appalled by what she saw in the photos, and spoke on it:

“Let this be a lesson to other dog owner’s. It is dangerous to dye your puppy’s fur. This dog’s ear looks like it suffered an allergic reaction and was burned. Then it fell off. Her ear is gone forever. It’s all the owner’s fault for trying to colour them,” she said.

 

The UK organization RSPCA also made their feelings known. In an interview with UK newspaper The Metro, they said:

“Our pets are living creatures and dyeing them sends out a worrying message that they could be viewed as novelty accessories rather than as intelligent, sentient animals.

People may think they are treating their pets by dying their fur but some of the paints, dyes, inks and glues used can be toxic and harmful to animals. Even if a dye is marketed as ‘pet friendly’, we would strongly advise against it.

These dyes can be dangerous and the experience of being dyed can be stressful for our pets who do not understand what is happening,”

Although Diffy has lost an ear, we hope that the dye did not cause further damage and that the owner learned their lesson.

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