Metro couple believes dog was killed by rat poison on purpose

OKLAHOMA CITY (KFOR) – A couple in northwest Oklahoma City is heartbroken and confused after their puppy died from eating rat poison, something they don’t use at their home. They believe something more sinister is going on.

“[He] really meant a lot to me and Kimber and, you know, it's going to be hard not having him here anymore,” said Davin Ferren.

Ferren and his girlfriend are trying to make sense of their 8-month-old puppy’s death.

“He's full of energy. Only knew how to give love,” said Ferren.

Last week, at their home near Northwest 62^nd and 63^rd street, in the Highland Hills neighborhood, Murphy the poodle stopped eating. Ferren rushed him to the vet after finding blood in Murphy’s stool.

 “While he was there, he vomited some blood, and they decided it was probably a pretty serious issue,” said Ferren.

After a blood test, the results came back with rat poison in Murphy’s system. Ferren said they don’t use the product at their home.

Ferren said the vet gave the dog some medicine and IV’s, then sent them home. However, the next morning Murphy stopped breathing.

“We rushed him over to the emergency vet and sadly they weren't able to do anything for him,” said Ferren. “It's not a pretty way to die. It's a really awful experience for everybody involved”

Ferren said after talking to neighbors, he discovered this is not the first time something like this has happened in their neighborhood. Thankfully, the neighbor was able to catch his dog eating baited rat poison in time. Ferren believes someone is targeting pets.

“We believe that somebody is, you know, trying to get into houses or trying to cause issues in the neighborhood and that the pets are getting in the way they're trying to find a way to get them out of the way,” said Ferren.

Ferren called police, however he said there wasn’t enough evidence to fill out a report. They all have security cameras, but they believe it happened in a blind spot. However, Ferren said officers are going to up patrol in the area.

Now, Ferren is taking it upon himself to warn neighbors.

“I hope that they never do this again. I hope that they see this, see how bad this hurts people,” said Ferren. “We just want everybody to be aware in the community that this is happening.”