Mindless litter louts almost killed my dog

Pet ate toxic treats left in park

The area’s litterbugs have been told to tidy up their act – after a dog nearly died because of rubbish left behind by careless louts.

Carrie Allan was walking her pet dogs Baxter and Oscar in Holmhills Wood Park in Cambuslang when golden retriever Baxter wolfed down chocolate raisins that had been left lying in the park amongst rubbish from a picnic, even eating the wrapper. Raisins can be fatal to a dog, meaning Carrie had to rush her pet to the vet for emergency treatment.

Now the 41 year-old has hit out at the selfish litter louts who left the mess behind in the first place, as the Reformer joins Don’t Trash Our Future – a nationwide campaign aimed at stamping out littering.

We want to see the maximum punishment for littering increased in a bid to end rubbish

being left everywhere – a problem which has worsened during lockdown – and put a stop to incidents like the one which left Carrie’s beloved Baxter ill.

Carrie said: “It looked like there had been a very messy picnic with lots to drink and they’d just left it at their backsides.

“It’s definitely been worse because of lockdown and there has been much more rubbish than you’d normally see at this time of year. There aren’t a lot of bins there, but I still can’t understand why people just get up and walk away.

“If I hadn’t have seen that one raisin, I’d have gone home none the wiser and it could have killed my dog.” Carrie, a retail worker, took both Baxter and Oscar to the Vets Now clinic in Glasgow, where both pets were given emergency injections to make them sick.

While Oscar had only a small amount of the chocolate raisins, Baxter brought up the whole packet, including the wrapper.

Emergency vet Andrew Murray said: “It was clear Baxter had eaten a fairly significant number of raisins and a large amount of chocolate.

“After doing various tests, including bloods, which were all within normal limits, we gave him fluids and monitored him closely. Thankfully, his condition remained stable throughout.”

Both dogs have now fully recovered.

The poorly pet’s stay in hospital coincided with his eighth birthday and staff pulled out all the stops to make sure it was enjoyable as possible.

Andrew explained: “Baxter’s owners told us he was celebrating his birthday so all the staff made a real fuss of him while he was with us.”

Carrie added: “I got an email saying, ‘Hi mum, I’m doing okay’ and a picture. It was such a lovely personal touch and the bit of humour helped after everything we’d gone through.”

The Reformer has previously reported on how parts of Cambuslang have been blighted by fly tipping and piles of rubbish since the coronavirus lockdown began in March.