A family has been left devastated after their puppy became unwell and died of a mystery illness after a simple walk in the park. Chloe Vickers says she took seven-month-old sproodle puppy Oscar to the park as she normally would do last Thursday, February 9, but within hours he was vomiting.
Days later, Oscar passed away at home surrounded by his family. Chloe has now urged all other dog walkers who take their pets to Wythenshawe Park, Manchester, to be vigilant for any signs of sickness, the Manchester Evening News reports.
Chloe said the park is always full of dog walkers and she took Oscar out for his walk on Thursday morning as usual and he was running around and playing as he normally would. She said they took a slightly different route from the café, into some woods and he was still being his usual self.
However, when they got back home, Chloe said Oscar would not drink anything, which "wasn't like him at all after a walk like that". When he later started being sick, they took him to the vets, where he was given anti-sickness drugs.
It was at this point Oscar started to deteriorate quickly, with Chloe saying he was lethargic, vomiting and passing blood. She told the MEN: "The vets said they couldn't see him straight away again as he wasn't insured yet. It was horrible ringing around all day on Friday and Saturday trying to get some kind of help, we could just see he was dying at this point.
"The next appointment we got we were told to take him home to die. It was heartbreaking to see him dying right in front of us, we had no idea why it was happening."
Chloe said it wasn't the first time she's heard of something similar happening at Wythenshawe Park, with a friend also losing a dog in similar circumstances last year. She's hoping to use her story to raise awareness for other dog owners.
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She posted on a Wythenshawe social media group to tell her story as a warning. Manchester City Council have confirmed they have been made aware of the issue with the RSPCA urging people to contact their vets straight away if they experience something similar.
Chloe said: "We'd only had him since October, he was such a good dog. My young son absolutely loved him, he still calls for him now, asking 'where are you Oscar?'. This was our first dog as a family, it's just so sad, we've done so much crying."
Chloe does not know for certain what caused the illness but suspects something in the woods may have poisoned Oscar or given him Parovirus.
An RSPCA spokesman said: "This is concerning and our thoughts are with dog-owners who have been affected by this. We haven’t been made aware of these incidents, however we urge anyone whose pet falls ill in similar circumstances to contact their vets straightaway."
Manchester City Council said they had been made aware of the issue. They have asked their parks staff to remain vigilant.
