Dog rushed to emergency vets after wolfing down Cadbury's Crunchie Easter egg

Living up to his name, Cavapoochon Jet raced to grab the Cadbury’s Crunchie egg after Kirsty’s mum took a bite and momentarily put it to one side.

Within seconds, serial food thief Jet managed to swipe it to the floor with his paw, drag it under a bed and eat it all, along with some of the wrapper.

Kirsty was alerted by the ominous sound of loud rustling, rushed to investigate and found Jet, who was aged four at the time, looking very pleased with himself.

She said: “The minute I heard that noise I thought ‘hold on, Jet’s got hold of something he shouldn’t have’ – and unfortunately I was right."

“My mum had had a nibble of the egg – then put it down and that was enough I’m afraid for Jet to get to work. When I looked under the bed, there he was with some chocolate round his mouth and he seemed perfectly happy, with nothing wrong with him."

“But he’s small dog – and it was a big Easter egg he’d ploughed though and what he ate was around 150 grams worth.”

Aware of how risky chocolate can be, and with her daytime vets closed for the holiday weekend, Kirsty phoned pet emergency service Vets Now.

And within a couple minutes she and Jet were en route from their home in Lancing, West Sussex, to the Vets Now clinic in nearby Worthing.

Jet was admitted straightaway for a series of tests and because Kirsty had acted so quickly he still hadn’t had time to digest the Easter egg.

And that meant the clinical team were able to administer medicine to make him sick – and bring up a large amount of chocolatey liquid.

Kirsty said: “They also found a foam earplug in there as well – which for some reason he’d thought was a tasty treat and which could have blocked his stomach."

“A few hours later, he was well enough to come home, with some charcoal tablets to help clean up his tummy."

“Of all the things you want to be doing on Good Friday, hurtling off to the emergency vets and worrying whether your dog is going to survive must be bottom of the list. So my advice to other owners is that you just need eyes in the back of your head at this time of year if there’s any chocolate anywhere at all in the house."

“Dogs just seem able to sniff it out at a hundred paces and if your dog is anything like Jet, they’ll only need your back turned for an instant. The team at Vets Now were so helpful – and were very kind to me as well as Jet, which is important because I was very anxious indeed."

“But in the nicest possible way, I’m hoping not to see them again for a very long time!”

Kirsty added: “I know all dogs are food-motivated, but Jet really is very skilled at pinching things from under your nose. Last Christmas, he used one of the kitchen chairs as a trampoline and basically bounced himself onto the work-top to steal a lamb bone – that’s the sort of character he is!”

Cristian Mihaita, Principal Vet at Vet’s Now Worthing, said: “Kirsty and Jet weren’t alone in needing our help that weekend – quite the opposite. Across our network of out-of-hours clinics and hospitals around the UK, we had a 92% increase in chocolate cases over the Easter Bank Holiday weekend, compared to the previous weekend, which gives an indication of how dangerous Easter can be for dogs."

“You sometimes hear about people feeding their dog a chocolate biscuit as a treat and of course it’s intended innocently. But the reality is that chocolate contains theobromine and caffeine, which cause clinical signs such as vomiting and diarrhoea, an increase in heart rate, blood pressure, agitation, tremors, and seizures."

“The issue is that dogs metabolise these compounds very differently to the way we human beings do - making them much more sensitive to the effects. We have an online calculator which owners can use to check out the level of risk if their dog does get their paws on chocolate How Much Chocolate Can A Dog Eat? Use Our Calculator To Find Out."

“In Jet’s case, this calculator very clearly indicated that he was at severe risk of major heart problems given the amount he’d eaten and given how small he is. So Kirsty did exactly the right thing in phoning us immediately and in bringing Jet in straight-away."

“If your dog eats chocolate this Easter – and we know it will happen to lots of owners – please do as Kirsty did and seek help there and then.

“That’s because every minute matters in cases of chocolate poisoning and the sooner help is sought the sooner your pet can get the treatment it needs.”

For more information on keeping your pet safe this Easter, or to find your nearest clinic, visit www.vets-now.com.

What to do in a pet emergency

If you suspect your pet has been exposed to any Easter hazards, contact your local vet or nearest emergency vet for advice. Symptoms of poisoning or severe reactions can appear within minutes, so prompt action is crucial.

Know who to call and where to go: Save time and stress in case of an emergency by having your local vet and the nearest emergency vets for out of hours saved as a contact in your phone.

All Vets Now’s emergency clinics and hospitals throughout the UK will be open 24/7 on Easter Sunday, with out of hours care over the Bank Holiday weekend.