Multiple dogs have allegedly suffered life-threatening injuries from this popular chew toy

Playing with a popular dog toy ended in tragic loss for a Chula Vista family when their five-year-old dog, Maximus, suffered a fatal injury on his tongue after playing with a Kong toy.

Shockingly, Max isn't the only poor pup that this has happened to.

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A similar injury happened to another dog named 'Rooney,' who was brought in to Vergi 24/7 urgent care health center with his tongue stuck in the same toy, a Kong 'The Beast' tug toy.

"There's no hole on top. There's a hole on the bottom and it just got sucked on his tongue," Stumpf said of the toy's design. Basically, when a dog gets its tongue stuck inside the ball and begins struggling to free itself, it creates a vacuum pressure that can suck in and destroy the muscle.

Luckily for Rooney and his family, he was able to make it to the vet in time to escape the incident with only minor injuries. The vet even admitted that the pup woke up minutes later looking for the dangerous ball.

So, how can you keep your precious pets safe?

Dogenthusiast.com suggests that to protect your dog against this kind of incident, you should examine all of your toys that have an opening in one side. These are often "food puzzle" toys or durable plastic toys you stuff with food, but can also include toys that come apart like the tug noted above (this is quite common with aggressive tuggers). If there is only one entry point and no hole anywhere else to safely avoid suction, modify or dispose of the toy immediately.

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