Nicola Peltz Beckham is taking legal action against a dog groomer that she has blamed for her dog's death. On June 15, 2024, the actress, 29, took to Instagram to share that her Chihuahua had died. In her post, she alleged that her dog, Nala, was "perfectly healthy" when she went to the dog groomer, but died hours later. She made similar claims in her lawsuit against Jony Ceballos, Deborah "Deb" Gittleman, and HoundSpa LLC, which she filed on Tuesday, July 30, reports People.
Deb is the owner of HoundSpa, and Jony is the groomer who Nala saw prior to her death, according to TMZ.
Similar to the claims that she made in her initial Instagram post, Nicola alleged in her lawsuit that "Nala went into the grooming van, a happy, healthy dog, but returned injured and in severe physical distress — breathing heavily and wheezing, with her chest pulsating," per People.
According to the lawsuit, Nicola took her dog to the vet right after she went to the groomer, and "Nala’s tongue was blue, she had fluid in her lungs, and she suffered neurological damage."
Nicola blames HoundSpa and its owner, Deb, for her dog's death as well because she alleges that there had previously been complaints about Jony, yet the company continued to employ him, reported TMZ.
The actress alleges that Jony's mistreatment of pets was "intentional and malicious."
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The lawsuit "is about holding responsible those who abuse animals," she said, per People. She also noted that she was left emotionally distressed after she "witnessed her dog suffer."
She accused Jony of acting with "utter callous disregard for [Nala's] safety, health and well-being," reported USA Today, and claimed that HoundSpa has not offered an explanation of what happened to her dog.
In her initial Instagram post on June 15, Nicola shared that "Nala was perfectly healthy when she went to the groomers yesterday but came out hyperventilating and couldn’t catch her breath. we rushed her to the vet and she passed hours later."
She added, "Please be careful who you send your dogs to because you don’t know what goes on behind closed doors."
Some of the people who commented on the post told her to be careful about making accusations against the groomer.
"Blaming the groomer this publicly before having scientific proof is awful," one person wrote. "If they truly did nothing to intentionally cause harm, this post could emotionally destroy them."
Another person chimed in with, "Could have had an underlying health issues and the groomer visit was a complete coincidence-until you know more or exactly what happened not fair blaming the groomer or make ppl worry this could happen to them too."
One "professional dog groomer" wondered if the vet said anything about the groomer or Nala's cause of death. "With the baby being a senior there could have been an underlying health condition that was aggravated by grooming," the Instagram user pointed out. "Grooming is stressful for dogs and with seniors too much stress can be killer. It doesn’t mean the groomer hurt your pet in anyway."
Losing Nala has been devastating for the actress. In her post, she wrote that "she was my beautiful queen and stayed by my side for 9 years through everything."
"I can’t even find the words to describe my heartbreak on so many levels," she said in the post.
In a follow-up post on June 16, she shared another picture of Nala and wrote, "My brain can’t comprehend where you went i just feel so much pain."
