Giant Tiger pulls dog treat from shelves after P.E.I. family pet dies

• Giant Tiger puts dog chew treat back on shelf, says it's 'safe'

Discount store chain Giant Tiger has pulled adog treatfrom their shelves across Canada after a family from Miscouche, P.E.I., says their four-year-old dog died after choking on the chewable treat.

According to the Wamboldt family, Lexi, a female shih tzu, was eating a Big Chew treatbought from Giant Tiger when she choked to death.

I just want to make sure this doesn't happen to anyone else's pets. Derek Wamboldt

The hard chew treat is about 12 centimetres long, or the length of a granola bar, and is made of rice flour, wheat starch and chicken meal, according to the company that makes it.

Lori Wamboldt said the dog had been chewing on the treat for awhile but started choking when she was almost finished.

Wamboldt called her husband in a panic.

"I flew home, basically," said Derek Wamboldt. "When I got home, my children were crying, my wife was very upset and our dog was covered up. It had passed away."

Wamboldt, who used to be a volunteer firefighter, said he removed a piece of the treat from the dog's throat and tried to revive the dog, but it was too late. The piece he retrieved was about two centimetres by two centimetres.

'The product is very safe'

The family reported the incident to Giant Tiger, the store where they bought the chew treat.

"Our condolences go out to the family for their loss," Giant Tiger spokeswoman Sara Chesiukin a statement emailed to CBC News.

"As a precaution the product currently in question has been removed from shelves in all stores across Canada until the investigation from the vendor is complete."

The vendor is Rush Direct Inc. Pet Products in Illinois. Chief executive officerCharles Ferreirasaidhis company is investigating the incident.

"We are very active to solve this as fast as we can," Ferreira told CBC News.

"We produce one of the best, top-selling products. The product is very safe," he said. "This is a product we are producing more than 15 years and we run tests every year and we saw how the dogs eat that."

Ferreira said the chew treat is produced in the United States and many other companies make similar products.

"We've sold millions and millions of this product like the other factories ... and in 25 years nobody has had any choking case," he said.

"The dogs love it ... this was shocking news for us because we never had that."

'We still expect to see her'

Ferreira said he spoke with Wamboldt and asked him to send the treat that was extracted from the dog along with the packaging the product came in.

"We need to see the piece so we can do a lab test and understand what happened," Ferreria said.

The family hasn't decided whether they're going to send the treat to Rush Direct Inc. Pet Products.

Derek Wamboldt said the house seems empty without Lexi.

"You are walking through the house and she's a lap dog, so every time you sit down, she's on your lap, every time you move, she was right there with you the whole time, so even now we still expect to see her there," he said.

"I just want to make sure this doesn't happen to anyone else's pets, I just gotta keep at this until something is resolved here."