21/07/2023
There have been incidents of DOG POISONING in the Pentire area over the past week that have resulted in sickness, and one death. Please be aware of the following combination of early symptoms and do not hesitate to take your dog to a vet immediately should your dog display them. The main symptoms are not necessarily immediate or obvious and develop and worsen over a number of hours:
Fatigue.
Muscle twitching, particularly the face, and gulping
Urinary Incontinence
Looser stools, not necessarily diarrhoea
High temperature
Bewilderment and unsteadiness
Dog shrinking from your touch
DEATH OF LOCAL DOG BY TOXIC POISONING
Ivy, an eight year old brindle Staffordshire Bull Terrier, had to be put down on Thursday after 24 hours in intensive care at Penmellyn Vets Hospital in St Columb Major.
Ivy was lead walked by her owners, Denise and Nick Webb, from Pentire Avenue close to Pentire Crescent down to the Esplanade on Tuesday. At some point, unnoticed by them, Ivy ingested something noxious. After some twenty minutes down there, Ivy appeared too tired to continue up to the headland and they took her home. Some time in the afternoon, Ivy wet the sofa but it wasn’t until the early hours of the morning that things started to go noticeably wrong. Ivy was showing all the symptoms described above and the emergency vets were called at 6.30am on Wednesday.
The severity of the muscle twitching was such that Ivy bit her own tongue. Her shuddering meant the wound was reopened over and over again. The twitching raised her temperature and she had to be artificially cooled down.
She was given lipid infusion to bind to the toxin and flush it out of the system. Despite a short rally, when the vets thought she was recovering, by the evening, instead of going home as hoped, she started showing signs of kidney and liver failure. She was put down on Thursday morning. The cost to the owners of her treatment and cremation was just over £1800.
The initial suspicion of the vets was that Ivy had eaten a discarded mouldy snack. As the day went on, the suspicions turned strongly to the ingestion of ma*****na or possibly a v**e. Her owners were asked if Ivy could have had access to he**in or co***ne. (A cursory Google by them of the effect of ma*****na on dogs revealed very similar symptoms of toxic poisoning.)
There have been suggestions on other community groups that council spraying of the verges might be a cause. However, the evidence given by symptoms and bloods so far is that Ivy actually ingested something, possibly along the Esplanade area where the verges have not been sprayed. Rodent poison was ruled out, a snake bite was ruled out, the River Gannel water, which she often enjoyed, was also ruled out.
Denise and Nick hope that by giving these distressing details, they can dispel rumours, discourage speculation, inform the public of the seriousness of this matter in our neighbourhood.
“First, we wish to thank our neighbours and friends for their support. Ivy was a well known and sociable pet but, unfortunately, a devious snacker.”
“If she ate a mouldy snack that had been tossed, if she ingested a drug or a v**e by whatever means, her death, and the reported sickness in other dogs, are the result of certain individuals’ irresponsibility, selfishness and utter carelessness with regard to our shared local environment. That people’s actions: irresponsible littering, picnicking, and drug use are not without cost has been brought into sharp focus. It’s not just a matter of leaving other people to pick up your mess but, sometimes, a matter of leaving others to pick up the pieces.”
“If, however, this was a deliberate act to poison wildlife or pets, then it is a criminal offence. We are reporting the matter to the police and if you observe these symptoms in dogs or pets or you see any animal in a distressed state, please get vet help early and quickly, and also report the incident.”