Dog poisoning: This is what we did …

• Charlene van der Schyff writes:

This letter is about dog poisoning.

I used to stay on Hillside plots, where I had four dogs. The neighbours had a diesel tank on their property and thieves would come and steal the fuel. My little cross-breed Cocker Spaniel would not stop barking at them and woke up the neighbours who would in turn disturb the thieves.

Coming home one evening, I noticed my dogs were not moving. Luckily my neighbour was with me, and he said to look at the dogs’ tongues, which were pitch black.

The Cocker Spaniel died immediately. My neighbour said that the dogs had eaten Two-step and we must act quickly. He took the Husky and I took the Yorkie, and this is what we did – we poured Coke down their throats until they felt nauseous, and then waited for them to vomit. After they’d vomited, we poured milk down their throats …

We did this until we saw their tongues turning pink again. Once their tongues were pink and the desire to vomit had ceased, the danger of the poison had passed.

Both of my dogs were saved that night. My neighbour explained that the Coke would dissolve whatever it was that they’d eaten. And the milk we gave them lined their stomachs.

I don’t know how dangerous this method is, but I know it saved my doggies. And no, I did not take them to the vet afterwards – there was no reason. They ate fine, pooped fine and all was well.