Kentish Express Ashford & District
Poison fear on green as family pet nearly dies
A retired couple fear their dog may have been deliberately poisoned by laxatives after it suffered crippling diarrhoea.
Jenny and Tony Blunt, of Copperfield Close, Bybrook, take their dog Flo for a walk at the green in Grasmere Road in Ashford several times a day.
But after walking there in the summer they spotted the threeyear-old Jack Russell was unwell and took her to the vets.
Mrs Blunt, 65, a former mental health occupational therapist, said: “I took her for a walk up at the green early one morning.
“She had really bad diarrhoea. We didn’t panic too much at first, we just thought it was something she had eaten, so we took her to the vets.”
Mr Blunt, 62, a retired NHS microbiologist, said Flo was checked and was about to be taken home when her condition deteriorated.
He said: “We went home in the car, but by the time we had got back there the car was awash. It was like a tap which you couldn’t switch off. It was everywhere. I called the vets and took her straight back, and she had to spend another five nights there.”
Mrs Blunt said Flo was so ill that she very nearly died, and had to make an insurance claim for more than £1,000 for vet costs following what happened in July.
She said: “It was horrendous, I’ve had dogs all my life and I’ve never seen a dog as ill as that. She had lost so much weight, she couldn’t eat and couldn’t drink and was on a drip at the vets.
“When I was in there I was chatting to another lady who said there had been a dog with similar symptoms after walking there. They were able to get a clipping of the fur which showed there was the laxative.”