So 2018 started with a call from a friend to go and help with a very sick dog, lying in a field. The dog had clearly been lying out all night as it had frost on its ears, its friend was standing guard over her. She has no obvious injuries but very laboured breathing, very anaemic gums and cannot stand or hardly lift her head. We managed to carry her to the garage and lay her on a blankets with more blankets over her. The first local vet, when he did eventually answer his phone, just said he is not working today. So we tried to make her comfortable with hot water bottles and blankets, get some warm liquid into her and some crushed charcoal. But she was clearly in terrible pain and eventually we managed to get another vet to come out and put her to sleep. He confirmed our thoughts that she had been poisoned with anti-freeze.
The poisoning of Bulgarian street dogs is unfortunately common practice and unless the dog is found straight away and treated quickly, the result is usually death.