Heartbroken dog owner issues warning as cocker spaniel dies after choking on treat

Percy, a 15-month-old cocker spaniel, was given the rawhide treat from Pets At Home last month, but sadly began to choke on a bit which had broken off.

His heartbroken owner, who asked only to be known as Sam, told The Yorkshire Post she wanted to raise awareness of the danger of the treat.

Her partner Tom rushed Percy to a vets which was less than a minute away, but they could not save him.

"After removing the item he was unconscious," said Sam, of Harrogate. "The vets then did CPR and tried to revive him. My partner took him to the vets but we haven't spoken about exactly what happened because it's so upsetting for both of us.

"I want to make other people aware of what can happen. I know it's an accident - and Pets At Home have been great with talking to me - but it could happen to anyone.

"I was reminiscing with my mother about all the things Percy would eat. He would eat all human food, and even ate a whole bag of Maltesers before. But it's not the thing that he's not supposed to eat that has killed him. It's something that was made for him."

Sam posted about the incident on her Facebook page to let her friends and family know about Percy's death almost a year to the day after they had got him. But she said she had a number of people comment on the post speaking of near misses they'd had with rawhide treats.

Sam said Pets At Home had only had one other report of a near-miss with the treats.

"They're invesigating at the moment," she said. "But if your dog almost chokes on a treat, it's not the sort of thing that you go back to the shop about. They've had Percy and one other near miss so we just have to weight and see what their investigation says.

"They have offered us a goodwill gesture but it's not really about that. I just don't want this to happen to anyone else. If your child chokes then you know what to do but if your dog chokes then it's bewildering."

Her Facebook post said: "We are beyond heartbroken, shocked and devastated. We know that this was a complete freak accident and that dogs can choke on anything and everything, but I just wanted to make people aware of what can happen.

“The fact that this happened on something that can be bought in so many pet stores, hopefully people seeing this will mean it won’t happen to anyone else’s doggo’s.”