The owners of a poisoned pet want slug pellet makers to ensure their products have more prominent warning labels.

The Walch family lost four-year-old labrador Milo hours after ingesting slug pellets at their Apperley Bridge home.

Jayne Walch bought the own-brand slug pellets at the Bradford branch of Homebase and used them in their garden at Acacia Park Drive after reading on the container that the tiny blue grains contained an animal repellent to reduce ‘attractiveness to pets’.

Mrs Walch said that all brands of slug pellets at the store had the same message on the container. But on the back of the bottle there were other warnings stating: ‘Keep product away from children and pets’ and ‘dangerous to pets’.

She said: “My husband Simon decided to put some slug pellets on a flower bed at about 6pm. As the bottle said ‘pet repellent’ he saw no reason not to put the pellets on the soil. Our two labradors were in the garden as usual. They had not been near the pellets before so he did not think there would be any danger. At 11pm Simon called me to say there was something wrong with Milo; he was fitting, salivating and his eyes were bulging.

“I rang the emergency vet, and explained to her what was happening and suggested he may have eaten some slug pellets. She told us to come immediately and bring the slug pellet bottle. By the time we got there he was convulsing uncontrollably. They rushed him through to the back of the vet’s and left us in the waiting room for 40 minutes.

“Finally the vet called me in the room. She said it was the worst case of Metaldehyde poisoning she had ever seen. He was under general anaesthetic covered in ice packs and on oxygen.

“She had given him Valium to try and stop the fits. I have never seen an animal in so much distress in my life.’’ The vet eventually put Milo to sleep. Mrs Walch said: ‘‘There is no cure to this kind of poisoning – my God, it could have been a child.’’ Following Milo’s death, Mrs Walch contacted Trading Standards. She said she would also like to see the ‘pet repellent’ labels taken off the containers.

Bob Unwin, of West Yorkshire Trading Standards, said that scientists were carrying out tests on the product.

He said: “If you do use slug pellets you should use them carefully.’’ A spokesman for Homebase said: “We are very concerned to hear of this incident and we offer our sympathy to the family.

‘‘We try to make the labelling of products absolutely clear to help customers make an informed choice when buying pesticides.”

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