A resident in Honeydew has had two of her cats poisoned and killed in three weeks and, more recently, her dog fell victim to a poisoning attack.
Nicole Hattingh was shocked to find one of her dogs lying at the door and her German shepherd barking over it.
The dog was lying there seemingly dead but had a low heart rate, and that alerted her that something was wrong,” Hattingh informed.
“I rushed him to the vet but I was not even sure what was wrong with him at the time. We managed to get animal emergency help in time and he is currently in a stable condition but he is not out of the woods yet.”
The construction site on the corner of Beyers Naudé Drive and Chritiaan de Wet Road has led to an increase in animals being brutally killed with the banned substance known as two-step poison.
Sector 2 chairman Neville Burnett says these incidents were more prevalent in the past, but had died down until recently.
“We had a lot of attacks in the past and now they are starting again. The acts are quite random in terms of people being targeted and it’s hard to control too because the perpetrators attack at night and they throw things over the walls at night.”
Dr Nicola Barnard, who treated Nicole Hatting’s dog, said animal poisonings are usually more prone during the festive season because that is when housebreaking and robberies are rife.
She said at the moment she gets about two dogs that have been poisoned per week.
“If an animal does not get to a vet immediately, it really can be too late because the poison acts very quickly, so you have half an hour to get help,” Barnard explained.
“The way these animals are poisoned is so brutal because two-step poison burns their stomach lining and causes severe abdominal pains,” she added.
Barnard advises pet owners to look out for the following symptoms the minute they suspect there is something wrong with their animals:
- If the dog/cat collapses and looks as if it is dead;
- If it is covered in vomit; and a
- Low heart rate
Any meat or food products that look suspicious and possibly thrown over the fence should immediately alert an owner to check on the animals on their properties, as this is the most common way to poison them.
Barnard added, “We offer supportive therapy for the animals during treatment and that help stabilise the heart rate. We also give them laxatives to get the toxins out of their system or use charcoal to absorb the poison and throw it up.”
