A Lethbridge family is heartbroken after losing both of their dogs over the weekend.
To make matters worse, police believe the dogs were intentionally poisoned.
Jenalee Cambell and her family are grieving the loss of their St. Bernards: Emma, who just turned a year old, and Tikka, who was five.
On Sunday, Cambell, who lives on the south side of the city, reported the animals had been poisoned after eating dog food that was thrown into their backyard.
She says the food was soaked in an unknown substance.
“We let our dogs outside, like we do every morning, after a while I heard a little howling, which was unusual for my dogs to do,” said Cambell.
“So I got up and looked out the window and didn’t see anything, but I continued to hear the howling so I went outside and I saw my one dog laying in the back of our yard and he was paralyzed and couldn’t move.”
Cambell says both of the dogs started having seizures. Tikka died before they could even bring him to the vet.
Emma made it to the vet, but the family made the painful decision to have her put down after she showed no signs of getting better.
The pet hospital to which Cambell brought her dog, says the owners responded as well as they could in this situation, bringing Emma in as soon as poisoning was suspected.
“The common signs you’re going to look for are if they’re shaking around the house, stumbling, seizure, drooling — if they’re acting lethargic, vomiting.” said Becca Jones, who works at Family Pet Hospital.
Staff at the hospital say families can take measures to avoid the chance of poisoning by canvassing the backyard and supervising pets as much as possible, as well as installing cameras around the home.
Cambell reminds dog owners to always report incidents like this to the police, to help raise awareness.
“If you don’t report it, nothing is ever going to be done about it,” she said.
“It is the most heartbreaking thing and I do not wish this upon anybody,” Cambell said.
Police are asking the public and especially those who live in the area to be vigilant and watch for any strange items in their yards that could be harmful to pets or young children.
A sample of the suspicious food is being tested, though it is not known how long that process will take.