A distraught mum has appealed for dog owners to be vigilant - after she returned home to find her two pets had been killed by poison.

Michaela Bolt suspects Flash and Storm, her staffie and German shepherd cross, were poisoned on her premises when she went to her mum’s house.

Tearful Miss Bolt, of Mary Road, Deal, said: “I’ve had them both since they were pups. I had my Staffie since before I had my daughter so she was like my first baby.

“I couldn’t have asked for better family dogs.”

After finding their lifeless bodies on the floor in her conservatory, she called her vet who confirmed the incident sounded like poisoning.

“We spoke to the vets that night who said for both dogs to die at the same time, there’s no way that’s a natural death.”

“Both were healthy. There was no reason why they would have died" - Michaela Bolt, owner

Two year-old Storm, a German shepherd malamute cross, had vomited and there was evidence to suggest the six-year old Staffie had died soon after Miss Bolt left the house.

“I went out at 12.30pm to my mums. When I came back both dogs were dead.

“Both were healthy. There was no reason why they would have died. They had their beds, water, window open and fan on. The vet said if it had been too hot they would have gone to the water before they died.

“I’ve had people asking if it was the food but they had the best of everything.”

Flash and Storm were usually walked on leads from their home in Mary Road to Hornbeam Primary. But they had been exercised in the garden that morning by Miss Bolt’s daughter Lily. She claims there was no way they could have digested anything toxic unless it was on her premises.

She called police and has been given a reference number, but officers did not attend until six days after their deaths. Even now it has not been lodged as a crime.

Miss Bolt fears this is not an isolated incident and has heard that another dog was poisoned on the same day in Deal.

After posting an appeal for owners to beware on Facebook, a former Mary Road resident, who lived just three doors down, said her three dogs were also poisoned in the same way in 2005 but they were saved.

The impact has spread across her family, with her four year-old daughter Lily, asking where the dogs are.

“I just want to make people aware.

“Someone somewhere knows what happened.”

PS Mark Walmsley-Preece said: “Officers attended, examined the available evidence and conducted house-to-house inquiries to establish whether there were any suspicious circumstances.

“Although this is a sad incident, there is nothing at this time to suggest any offences have been committed. Anyone with any additional information can contact Kent Police on 101 quoting incident 0928-1428.”

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