A VET is warning dog owners to be aware of any unusual symptoms after his lurcher ate a substance which left the pet seriously unwell.

Nick Fisher, 33, was with his wife Karen, 33, and their dog, Twiglet, in their home village of Leintwardine when they believe he consumed drugs which caused a hallucinogenic episode.

The couple had been walking close to the village bus stop last week when the four-year-old stopped to eat.

And, when they returned home, Twiglet started acting increasingly strangely.

Mr Fisher, a vet based in Leominster, said: "When we got back into the house, about 30 to 40 minutes later after he had been eating something, he started running around as if he was being chased by something.

"Then he went into a huge amount of uncontrolled shaking. There was massive amounts of drool and he fell over a couple of times because he couldn't keep his balance."

Mr Fisher put Twiglet onto a mat where he was able to keep his balance better and he began to relax a little.

He said: "As soon as it started happening it was like dealing with a client's dog – it was like 'take a step back and be calm'.

"My wife was obviously quite upset. She's never seen a dog go through anything neurological before."

Mr Fisher took Twiglet to his surgery to take a blood sample but it did not show anything obvious that could account for the neurological activity.

He also made Twiglet vomit but nothing obvious came up.

"The following day he was completely back to normal although he had very red eyes," Mr Fisher said.

"A friend works as a neurologist so I had a chat with her and discussing the options and what could have happened, the possibility of something hallucinogenic being eaten is quite likely otherwise he would have been quite an unlucky dog to have had all those symptoms.

"It's a best working guess it was something he had eaten. It's not a common diagnosis around Leintwardine but maybe something was dropped or had fallen out of someone's pocket."

He added that owners should be aware of any neurological signs because there are a number of products that could be dangerous for dogs in higher doses.

"Whether or not making my dog vomit reduced any absorption or whether he had a small enough dose it was never going to cause problems, there are documented fatalities," he said.