A COURAGEOUS terrier has been presented with a bravery award from Okeford Veterinary Centre.

The winner of the centre's recent Braveheart Award was Lexi.

After disappearing while out on a walk, Lexi returned to her owners. A few days later she became poorly, with a red swelling around her left eye and pale gums.

She also started continuously to bleed from a number of tiny grazes. Lexi's blood clotting time was measured to be over four hours, compared with normal clotting times of around two minutes. Top of the list of diagnoses was that Lexi had eaten rat poison.

She was put on a drip with artificial plasma and high doses of antidote Vitamin K.

Later that day she started eating again and the bleeding slowed to a trickle. By the next evening, she was back to her old self, even energetically managing to tangle herself in her drip lines.

After further treatment with Vitamin K to ensure the poison had fully left Lexi's blood, she was signed off from treatment and is now back home.