South Florida family says dog lost eye after grooming at pet hotel, considers legal action
A Brickell family said their beloved dog lost an eye after what was supposed to be a routine grooming appointment at a local dog hotel. Now they are considering legal action.
The family claims the Dog Hotels Brickell has given them little explanation, and they are not the only ones who've raised concerns about the business.
"I don't know how this could ever happen, you know, like I told him, I just took him to take a bath and now he's missing an eye," said Marcella Bueno, the dog's owner.
"The eye was out"
Bueno and her husband, Fernando Diez, are in shock after their 7-year-old dog, Otto, was rushed to the emergency room after his routine grooming appointment at Dog Hotels Brickell.
Bueno said they called her saying there was an emergency but did not give any details. She called back, demanding answers.
"She said that it was the eye; the eye was out. That another dog snapped at him and the eye was out," Bueno said.
The couple said there were no bite marks or scratches near Otto's eye and that the facility told them after grooming he was put on the floor and another dog snapped at him.
"To be honest, he shouldn't be there; he should be in a place separate from other dogs. In my mind, it doesn't make sense at all," Bueno added.
"I would assume, if we put him on a playdate, we would be subject to something like this, but with a simple bath and grooming, it should be plain, simple risk-free," she said.
The Dog Hotels Brickell founder Andres Antunez sent CBS News Miami a statement saying: "An unfortunate incident occurred involving two small dogs—a Pomeranian and a Cockapoo—within a controlled and supervised environment."
It goes on to say, Dog Hotel Brickell is "implementing additional measures to ensure something like this never happens again."
Antunez later said his lawyers advised him not to speak after attorneys for the couple sent a letter requesting the video footage from the facility.
Other incidents at the same Brickell dog hotel
Otto isn't the only dog to allegedly leave this facility injured.
Jezarela Tuffy said she boarded her puppy at Dog Hotels Brickell two years ago and it left with two tibia fractures.
"Two tibia fractures and they never called me... I know this accident happened, so why no one call me to say, 'Hey... like, how can they let your dog for 5 days just limp?'"
Tuffy said the hotel later paid for the vet bills but still does not know how her dog was injured.
She's not alone. Google reviews show about 10 other pet owners claiming their dogs were injured or neglected while in the hotel's care.
For now, Bueno and Diez said they just want answers and to make sure this doesn't happen to anyone else. Meanwhile, Otto is at home recovering.