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Poison suspected in death of dog

One dog is dead after a suspected poisoning in a Red Deer neighbourhood.

One dog is dead after a suspected poisoning in a Red Deer neighbourhood.

Tests are underway to determine whether two dogs consumed chicken laced with strychnine.

The chemical is typically used to exterminate gophers.

“We suspected poisoning of some sort,” said Dagmar Schouten, a veterinarian with Cedarwood Veterinary Hospital. “During the stomach pumping, raw chicken was removed. The owner knew she did not give the chicken to her dog.”

The Kentwood-area owner brought one of her two dogs to a local clinic before the animal was rushed to the hospital last Friday. The dog was having seizures in her backyard.

Schouten said the hospital was concerned about what was in the backyard so the owner went home to check her yards and she found her other dog in bad shape.

“The bigger dog (a Labrador-Shepherd-cross) did OK but the smaller dog (a Maltese-Yorkie) passed away the next day,” she said.

The stomach contents of the two dogs are being tested at a lab.

“There is suspicion out in media that it is strychnine, which we have seen here before,” said Schouten. “It looks quite similar as far as onset seizures and high death rates. But we currently do not have any results from the stomach contents back yet.”

They should be back in a week.

Schouten said she does not know if the incident was a targeted, malicious act. But she called the incident disconcerting.

In April 2011, 13 dogs were poisoned in Mirror, about 40 km east of Lacombe, after consuming meat laced with strychnine.

“Several of those dogs came in here,” said Schouten. “I haven’t had any exposure since that Mirror case.”

Police have not had any confirmed cases of pet poisoning in Red Deer as of January.

But Schouten is warning pet owners to be more careful.

“Check your yards and do not leave your dogs unattended in your yards,” she said.

crhyno@www.reddeeradvocate.com