A mum has told how her seven-month-old puppy suddenly became sick with a mysterious illness after going to a popular park for dog walkers - and then died a short time later.
Chloe Vickers took her sproodle puppy Oscar for a regular walk at Wythenshawe Park, in Greater Manchester on February 9, but he became sick and died three days afterward.
She is now warning other dog owners to be wary at the park over what may have caused her dog to become unwell, and posted her story on a Wythenshawe social media group.
Manchester City Council has reportedly confirmed it was aware of the issue, with the RSPCA urging people to contact their vets straight away if they experience something similar.
"The park is always full of dogwalkers, it's just happened to us which feels like really bad luck," Chloe said.
"I took Oscar out on a walk on the park on Thursday morning as we would always do and he was running around as he always would.
"This day we went a slightly different route from the café and into some woods. He was running around as normal here still though and everything was normal.
"But when we got back he wouldn't drink anything which wasn't like him at all after a walk like that. Later on he was sick and we took him to the vet where they gave him anti-sickness drugs.
"But at this point he started passing blood and was vomiting a lot. It seemed he was quickly deteriorating and becoming really lethargic.
"The vets said they couldn't see him straight away again as he wasn't insured yet. It was horrible ringing around all day on Friday and Saturday trying to get some kind of help, we could just see he was dying at this point.
"The next appointment we got we were told to take him home to die. It was heartbreaking to see him dying right in front of us, we had no idea why it was happening," she told the Manchester Evening News.
Chloe said it wasn't the first time she's heard of something similar happening at Wythenshawe Park, with a friend also losing a dog in similar circumstances last year. She's hoping to use her story to raise awareness for other dog owners.
"We'd only had him since October, he was such a good dog. My young son absolutely loved him, he still calls for him now, asking 'where are you Oscar?'. This was our first dog as a family, it's just so sad, we've done so much crying."
Chloe does not know for certain what caused the illness, but suspects something in the woods may have poisoned Oscar or given him Parovirus.
An RSPCA spokesman reportedly said: "This is concerning and our thoughts are with dog owners who have been affected by this. We haven’t been made aware of these incidents. However we urge anyone whose pet falls ill in similar circumstances to contact their vets straight away."
