A four-year-old golden Labrador had to be rushed to the vets after eating a piece of bread covered in toxic rat poison in her owner’s back garden. 

Owner Cathy Cawte, 51, rushed the pet to a vets before the poison kicked in, but has already spent more than £200 on the treatment.

She believes the breadwas carried into her garden in Baldwins Lane, Croxley Green by a bird or a fox, but is shocked anyone could put down poison this way.

She said: "We only knew what it was because my son Ryan had worked in pest control.

"We were very lucky, the poison takes 24 hours to work and thin the blood - if we had found out then she would have been in awful pain and the vet said there wouldn’t have been a lot they could have done to save her.

"Hopefully the person doing this realises it was wrong. It’s a very nasty death for any animal."

Honey will have to have three weeks of treatment and blood tests at the vets before she is back to normal.

Cathy said the family has become cautious about letting Honey and their other dog Bonnie out into the garden after the ordeal.

She said she had contacted the environmental agency and was told she should check the garden before letting the pets out.

She said: "We have contacted the local council and have been informed that whoever has put this down, has acted illegally. 

"We have lived in this house for 14 years, we’ve always had dogs - we’ve never experienced anything like this before.

"We are very angry that people would lay bait to kill animals, let alone the consequences of it getting into a garden with pets in it."