A MUM is warning other pet owners after her dog nearly died from being poisoned – in her own back garden.

Anita Sherriff, from Weymouth, feared the worst after Yorkshire Terrier DJ fell badly ill and was left unable to walk.

Vets treating the stricken animal revealed he had ingested slug bait – extremely toxic and potentially fatal to dogs.

But neither Anita nor her neighbours use the chemical – and she fears DJ may have been deliberately targeted.

She said: “If it was intentional then it was attempted murder – someone has tried to kill my dog.”

Anita, of Rockhampton Close, rushed seven-year-old DJ to the vet’s after he began shaking uncontrollably.

“It was like watching someone with Parkinson’s Disease,” she said. “I had to carry him because he couldn’t even walk, he was that ill. As soon as the staff saw him, they said he needed hospital treatment straight away.”

Anita, 40, had to arrange for a friend to collect disabled daughter Sophia, 15, from school while she rushed to Heathlands Veterinary Hospital in Wool with DJ.

Vets placed him on a drip, sedated him and kept him in overnight as they flushed out the poison.

Anita, who also has two Labrador puppies, Marley and Cheetah, said: “They told me he had ingested slug bait.

“It was so horrible seeing him go through that. It was the worse feeling ever – I wouldn’t wish it on anyone.”

Baffled Anita says DJ could only have eaten the slug bait in her garden – but she has never used the substance.

“Both my neighbours have pets and their gardens are animal friendly too – they don’t use it either,” she said.

“But there isn’t anywhere else he could have eaten it because he only goes out in the garden.

“So someone must have either chucked it over or pushed it through my fence. I can’t believe it.

“I don’t know whether it was deliberate or an accident. But if it was intentional, I just don’t understand – why would anyone do this?”

Anita says daughter Sophia, who suffers from ADHD and Asperger syndrome,is extremely close to her dogs.

She added: “If anything happened to them it would ruin her. The animals really help Sophia.

“Thankfully DJ is back to normal now. He was a very lucky boy.”