Veterinary charity issues warning after chocolate laced with aspirin is left out for dogs in Rotherham

The PDSA in Attercliffe, Sheffield, issued a warning last night following an incident in Rawmarsh on Tuesday.

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The charity said blocks of chocolate laced with aspirin were shown to vets after two dogs were taken for treatment after their owners found the chocolate in their garden.

A warning has now been issued about leaving pets unattended in gardens.

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The incident has also been reported to South Yorkshire Police.

In a Facebook post, the PDSA said: “Last night our Vets Now staff were presented with the chocolate below which looks to have been planted with tablets.

“The tablets have been identified by a pharmacist as aspirin. This chocolate had then been thrown into someone’s back garden.“This is a suspected targeted attack, but please be wary when leaving animals unattended in gardens.“The police have been informed.”

Mark McClayne, who owns the dogs which ate the chocolate, said: “I'm the owner of these dogs. We went out for a couple of hours last night and first thing we do is let the dogs out.

“We have three dogs and one of the dogs is a four-month-old, who often picks items up out of the garden - stones, leafs, twigs – so we watch her.

“My daughter saw her pick something up and went to see what it was and the photo shows what it was, so we rushed her to the PDSA.

“Whilst there waiting for the vet to make her sick we reviewed our CCTV and saw one of our other dogs eating something so we left one dog at the vets, rushed home and picked him up and raced back for vets to make him sick.“The results of stomach contents showed the pup had no chocolate or pills in her but the other had chocolate and four pills in him. So far he is doing fine.”