Dog owners have been urged to be cautious after a number of pets were found to have been poisoned. 

Three dogs were roaming free in the grounds of a rural property overnight from Thursday, June 23 to Friday, June 24. 

The owner found them all unconscious the next morning and tests confirmed that they had ingested Pentobarbital. 

The drug is an anesthetic used for sedation and euthanasia in cats and dogs and only available on prescription.

The exact method of transmission isn’t known but it’s suspected the dogs were fed with food laced with the drug.

The intentions of those suspected of doing this isn’t known but police believe this is likely to be the actions of would-be thieves that were disturbed.

Read more:

The incident happened across the border in Suffolk and the county's police force has now issued a warning to dog owners. 

Sgt Brian Calver, from the Rural and Wildlife Policing Team, said: “This is a particularly worrying incident. Criminals will go to great lengths to steal other people’s property but this is simply disgusting and wicked.

"The dogs involved have all made a recovery but only by early intervention and good fortune.

"This could easily have resulted in the dogs' deaths, which is something we don’t want to see anybody suffer.

"With that in mind, we’d urge anybody that does allow dogs to wander free at night to reconsider their security arrangements and ensure the dogs are kept safe and secure.”

Anybody that has any information which could assist in this investigation is advised to contact Suffolk police, quoting investigation number 37/39683/22.