Why pets and paper shredders do not mix

[megomaniac]

I got a panic call from my mother on Sunday night and since I live next door, ran over to help her. Her cocker spaniel had gotten its ear caught in the paper shredder. The dog had ran at the shredder when a paper was going thru it and it somehow caught the hair and pulled the ear in about an eighth of an inch. My mother was in hysterics. We managed to get the device to reverse and wound up taking the dog to the pet ER for stitches. Both dog and my mother are doing fine now.

In all my life, I would never have thought it possible to have an animal's ear caught in a shredder, so just thought it might not hurt to put the word out that such oddly bizzare things can happen and to be careful with young pets.

[EmergencyIan]

Glad to hear that the dog and your mother are both fine, now, megomaniac.

Thanks for getting the word out.

- Ian

[toys2cool]

Wow that sucks,glad to hear they are all ok,Dogs alwaya manage to to the weirdest things

[Marvelmania]

OUCH!
Last summer I got a new kitten and sometimes it would crawl under my desk where my shedder is. I always made sure to switch it off after using it because I figured the cat's tail might get caught in it.

[mitchedwards]

Thanks for the heads up. Never heard of anything like that before.

[thunderbolt]

OUCH!!!!!

[Bizarro Amy]

I've read warnings about this before. Your mom and her dog were lucky this time. Most of the shredder horror stories I read were about dogs getting their tongues caught. They lick the shredder, as curious dogs often do, and the tongue gets so mangled that it is useless for drinking and panting. Most of them end up being euthanized.
It's also a danger for cats, as they tend to sit on anything that is elevated. They get their paws, tail, etc caught.
I unplug my shredder as soon as I am done with it as well as if I have to walk away from it for any amount of time. I have a dog and two cats and I would be heartbroken if anything this horrifying happened to them.