Beloved puppy Ted cheats death after rat poison horror at local park

Plucky Pomeranian puppy Ted is on the mend today after having ten rat pellets pumped from his tiny stomach.

Owner Matilde Berkmiller has now called in police and warned other dog walkers to be on the look-out after yesterday’s scare.

“It was just so traumatic, we’re just really, really lucky to have him back,” said student Matilde, 22.

A hole containing rat pellets which was discovered on the Leith Links.

The drama unfolded during Ted’s afternoon walk on the links at about 2.30pm yesterday.

“I was watching him and he was at a little hole only about 10cm deep,” said Matilde.

“I called him but then I saw him munching on something so because he’s a puppy I went over and I couldn’t believe what I saw - there were all these pellets.

“I said “oh my gosh” and just screamed. I picked him up and we got him to the vets.

“The poison was placed in plain sight as a deliberate act of malice.”

Poorly Ted had ten pellets purged from his system at Braid Vets on Leith Walk as Matilde and boyfriend Ryan Gavan waited desperate for news.

They saved his life,” said Matilde. “I can’t thank them enough, they acted so quickly. The nurses were making such a fuss of him.”

The poison purged, Ted then had to have his stomach washed out with charcoal to absorb any leftover toxins.

And he has to go back to the vets every day for four days to have blood tests to check how much poison he absorbed.

“He’s doing good. He slept with us last night and we were monitoring his breathing,” said Matilde.

“We’ve just come back from Inverleith Park and he was playing with other dogs. He was running around but he’s still very tired.”

Social media consultant Ryan, 34, added: “We had a hell of a scare. He’s doing much better.

“From what we’ve heard this is more common than I would realise. It’s happened in Holyrood Park recently as well.”

Police officers have now patrolled Leith Links twice since the poisoning amid concerns pets are being targeted intentionally.

A spokeswoman said: “Police in Edinburgh have received a report that a dog ingested poison in the Leith Links area on the afternoon of Thursday 11th April 2019.

“Anyone with information about this is urged to contact Police Scotland on 101, quoting incident number 3223 of 11th April, as soon as possible.”

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