A FAMILY walk around Hadleigh Country Park turned into a nightmare as a beloved pet puppy ate poisoned chicken.

Nathalie Palmer, 32, was forced to make the heartbreaking decision to put down Hope, a seven-month-old Cavalier King Charles spaniel, as she would never recover from the internal damage caused.

The mum-of-two took Hope, toy poodle Millie and daughters Emily, ten, and Grace, seven, for a long walk around the country park on Monday afternoon to mark the start of half-term.

However, Hope began showing signs of illness within minutes of the family returning to their home in Chittock Mead, Basildon.

Miss Palmer said: “The dogs were absolutely caked in mud, so I decided to give them both a bath, and at first I just assumed Hope was tired. She just wasn’t right, she let me wash her without any fuss for a start.

“She started whimpering and then she just lost control of her back legs and couldn’t walk. I picked her up and she threw up.”

Miss Palmer rushed the dog to Companion Care Vets, at Pipps Hill Retail Park, Basildon, where tests showed Hope had rat poison in her system.

When Hope began vomiting pieces of chicken, vets realised she must have eaten some meat laced with the poison.

Miss Palmer only fed her dried dog food and instantly realised Hope must have come across the deadly chicken on their visit to Hadleigh Country Park.

She added: “She spent the night at the vets on a drip and they hoped they would be able to flush the poison out of her system, but they rang me and said she had kidney failure. I had to make a decision about what to do, but the poison would have killed her eventually anyway.

“She would always go off and have her nose in things, but I’d never let her out of my sight completely.

“I won’t be going back to the country park and I think signs need to be put up to warn other dog owners of the dangers.

“I’m not sure if the person responsible for this was trying to get rid of foxes or something, but it’s such a harsh way to kill any animal.”