A County Durham vet surgery has put out an urgent warning to dog owners after traces of rat poison and slug pellets were found within easy reach of dogs in one location across the region. 

Seaham Vets, which services North East Durham, posted an urgent warning to pet owners in the Queen Alexandra Road and Dawdon area after poison and slug pellets were reported to the vets. 

Following the shock discovery, the vets took to social media to warn dog owners to keep their pets on a lead - while also warning those that notice a change in their dogs to contact the surgery. 

Read more: Teesside vet warns owners of potentially fatal disease to dogs

The post from Seaham Vets said: "WARNING TO DOG WALKERS IN THE QUEEN ALEXANDRA ROAD / DAWDON AREA.

"Possible rat poison / slug pellets used in this area within easy reach of dogs.

"Please keep your dogs on leads and take care when walking in this area.

"If you think your dog may have ingested toxic material, please contact your vet immediately."

This warning from Seaham vets comes a month after Wear Referrals in Bradbury, Stockton, saw a worrying spike in cases over the past few weeks of a disease called leptospirosis – an infection that can make dogs seriously ill.

The disease also carries the risk of being passed on to humans as Weil’s disease.

Dog owners are being asked to protect themselves and their pets by keeping annual booster vaccinations up-to-date.

Chiara Giannasi, head of internal medicine at Linnaeus-owned Wear Referrals, said the worrying amount of cases seen at the hospital in the past month could be attributed to the lack of vaccine.

She said: “We have had four critical patients with leptospirosis in the past four weeks, who have all required intensive care with liver and kidney failure, sadly as a result of the disease.

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“In my five years at Wear, personally, I have not seen dogs so sick with leptospirosis or such a high number of cases.

“Unfortunately, I think this rise in the number of cases we are currently seeing could be due to a change in the disease itself (a more aggressive process) and lack of vaccinations.

“A lack of vaccination is probably for a variety of reasons such as pet owners simply forgetting appointments for booster jabs, a slight worry about the vaccination – although the risks are tiny compared to the risk of death from the disease – and some dogs also missed boosters during lockdown, too.”