The owner of an XL Bully has spent thousands she won in a lottery to try to save the life of her pet after they were poisoned.
Anna-Marie Stevens, 51, had won £13,000 from the Postcode Lottery and spent the cash in a desperate but failed attempt to save her nine-month-old puppy Paul.
She initially suspected he ate something poisonous during a walk in Kismet Park, Essex.
Vets then told her that they were "convinced" Paul had ingested poison and had to fork out for over £13,342 worth of vet treatment, just £100 more than her lottery win.
Her XL Bully, Paul, sadly died (file pic)
PA
She said: "I used all my winnings from the postcode lottery, and we lost our dog, he was beautiful. We were told the only place we could go to a vet in Basildon that cost £10,000.
"We tried all week to save him but he had chronic kidney failure, we don't know exactly what he ate, but it caused a lot of damage. Vets are convinced it was poison, I don't want anyone going through the heartache that we went through.
"I would have taken my family for a nice holiday if Paul had not fallen ill.
"But I would have remortgage my house if there had been a chance of saving him."
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Medical insurance for an XL Bully is only available through a specialist provider, at a much higher premium than another breed.
Stevens said that she could not afford medical insurance for him following the breed's ban.
Following the diagnosis, she had to borrow from family members to pay for his vet treatment.
After she was told she had won the postcode lottery, she then had enough money to pay it back.
She became suspicious after more than 20 sandwich bags of dog food and biscuits were found at Kismet Park by her and her neighbour since Paul died in December.
She said: "'Several times at Kismet Park, I have found sandwich bags containing dog food and you never know what else is in there.
"It might have been for rats, who knows, but it's killing animals and it might kill children next.
"We're absolutely gutted about the death of our dog and forever will be."
