Couple tries to claim $22k after groomer snipped their dog's tongue

A couple tried to claim $22,000 after a groomer, who was working at Pawschukang, snipped their dog's tongue.

A Facebook post by Lee Taiseng has been circulating on social media since Wednesday and has since garnered over 460 comments and 1,100 shares.

On June 7, Lee's dog, Mario, was picked up by Pawschukang for grooming services at 10am.

At 3pm, Nichelle, the owner of Pawschukang, called Mr Lee and "calmly informed that Mario's tongue was "slit" during grooming."

Mr Lee said that Nichelle's calm tone led them to assume that it was a small injury, so they agreed to meet up at the nearest vet immediately after the call was done.

Upon arrival at the clinic, Mr Lee said that he and his wife were "surprised by Nichelle's verbiage, blaming Mario for being an active dog during grooming."

Mr Lee felt that Nichelle's description of Mario was "uncharacteristic", but what shocked them more was when they "found out that the "slit" was actually a cut that extended 3/4 diagonally through [Mario's] tongue."

Mr Lee added that the vet had said Mario's tongue could have been salvaged if the dog was rushed there immediately. Due to it being amputated, Mario now has a shorter tongue.

Mr Lee then said that Pawschukang's promises to sack the groomer did not go through.

In addition, compensation, such as lifetime supply of food, supplements and groomings, "fell short of what [Pawschukang] had verbally agreed upon."

Pawschukang published a post, in response to Mr Lee's post, on their Facebook page on Thursday (August 7) at about 7am.

Nichelle highlighted in her post that the groomer who committed the mistake is licenced and has had more than five years of experience in the grooming industry.

The groomer is also no longer with Pawschukang.

Nichelle kept in contact with Mrs Lee so that she could provide assistance within her capability and to check up on Mario's recovery.

She included a timeline of the events and screenshots of a WhatsApp conversation between her and Mrs Lee. 

Nichelle had volunteered to transfer $500 to Mrs Lee for Mario's future travel expenses to the vet. She said that Mrs Lee returned the money because "she was good for it".

On June 13, Nichelle was informed that Mario's tongue was recovering well and the stitches had already dissolved.

Thereafter, Nichelle immediately transferred Mrs Lee the amount incurred during Mario's follow-up visit to the vet.

On July 11, Nichelle met the couple at their home where they requested compensation of 10-15 years of food for Mario.

After leaving their home, Nichelle received another message from Mrs Lee, which said that they want a lump sum of cash payment instead. The entire sum came up to about $22,000.

Nichelle sought legal advice due to the huge sum demanded. She then offered $1,300 as compensation but was declined.

She clarified that Mr Lee was informed of the situation immediately when the incident happened.

Nichelle then said that there was no agreement with regards to the couple's requests for lifetime compensation and she also did not blame Mario for the incident.

View more photos in the gallery.