A Ladner woman took to social media last weekend to raise the alarm after the apparent poisoning of her beloved dog.
June Mark said she wanted to bring public attention to her heartbreaking ordeal so no other pet owner has to go through what she has endured.
Mark said after Kleopatra came in from playing in their fenced back yard last Wednesday she threw up a huge amount of hotdogs with some sort of slime covering them.
Mark initially thought it was stomach acid. She cleaned everything up and the dog appeared to be fine, but by Thursday, Kleo was stumbling about like she was drunk.
“But she was still eating and drinking, so again I went on with my day,” Mark recalled. “Later on Thursday she had her first seizure. By Friday she had two more seizures and was throwing up, so I took her to the vet where they hydrated her and did some blood work.”
She said by Saturday morning Kleo could no longer walk, had not eaten since Thursday and was also not drinking any water.
“The vet called me with the test results and they were not good,” she said. “Kleo was dying probably by poisoning, and definitely because of kidney failure. The vet came by my house on Saturday afternoon and the worst case had come real. She had to be put down as there was a slim chance of survival.”
At 3:30 p.m. Saturday, Kleo was pronounced dead due to kidney failure.
“Because we have no toxicology screen to verify what poison she ingested they could not confirm 100 per cent that it was death due to poison, but the vet agrees that all Kleo’s symptoms lead back to the hotdogs and the fact that they were most likely laced with something,” said Mark. “By the symptoms we can narrow it down to antifreeze poisoning.”
She says she has no idea who would do such a thing.
“The hotdogs were thrown over the fence – that’s the only thing that I can think of,” she said. “But I’m not looking to point fingers or accuse anyone. I just want to make sure no one else has to go through this.”
Delta police are in the process of speaking with Mark to begin an investigation.
Her post on the Ladner’s Landing Facebook page had more than 400 comments as of Monday afternoon, ranging from disgust and outrage of the act itself to heartfelt words of support over the loss of her beloved companion.
“I’m just blown away by the support. It is overwhelming, actually, but very much appreciated.”
