A COUPLE are warning other pet owners to be on the look out after their dogs nearly died after eating a lump of meat laced with poison.

Rosie Ford and her partner Jules Towers were left with a £500 vet bill after their two French bulldogs ate the meat which had been laced with rat poison.

According to Rosie, two-year-old pooches Hades and Zeus, were poorly for almost a week after the incident on Sunday, February 19.

The meat was left near Rosie's car in a residential car park behind her flat in Wimborne Road in Winton.

"We had just come back for a walk and I let the dogs out of the car," said Rosie, 23.

"Usually they both just run into the flat but they just remained by the side of the car.

"When I went to see what was going on I saw there was a massive lump of meat on the ground which they were both trying to eat.

"There was something a bit off about it and when I looked closer I realised it was stuffed with blue pellets.

"I knew straight away it was something bad - either rat poison or slug pellets."

Rosie rushed her beloved pups to the local vets in Wimborne Road where they spent the next the 24 hours being sick and then on a drip to regain some of the fluids they had lost.

The meat was also tested and it was confirmed that it had been laced with rat poison.

"To be honest we were told they were lucky to be alive," added Rosie, who has had the dogs since they were puppies.

"If I had left it an hour before taking them to the vets I was told they would have been dead."

Police and the dog warden were both notified about the incident.

Fortunately both dogs have made a full recovery but Rosie and Jules want to warn other pet owners in the area that this has happened.

"The scary thing is that we don't know if some awful person is going targetting places they know dogs are, or if the meat has been left for foxes," added Rosie.

"We just want other dog owners in the area to be on the look out as we don't want to hear that this has happened to another dog."