A pet owner has said he was furious after finding a stone in a packet of gourmet dog biscuits he bought at Pets At Home.

Everton FC fan Chris Smith told the ECHO that he bought the packet of 'Deli Dog Choc Chip Mini Cookies' for his mongrel Bailey at the Pets At Home store in Speke.

Chris said that he noticed something glimmer as he poured out the treats for Bailey, halfway through the pack.

Chris, who lives in Liverpool city centre, said: "This all happened around two months ago. I was pouring out the biscuits for Bailey when something caught my eye. It looked like a big lump of glass and was baked hard into the biscuit."

Chris told the ECHO that he reported the find to Pets At Home, but soon became fed up with their attitude

He said: "I just found them hard to deal with. At one point they offered me a gift voucher, but that seemed too little too late.

"I had to take time off work to take Bailey to the vets to check to see if he was okay.

"I found the stone when we were halfway through the packets of biscuits, so there was a chance Bailey could have eaten a stone that I had missed.

"The vets bill came to around £140 and there was all the time I spent on the phone and sending emails."

Chris Smith was furious to find a stone in a packet of gourmet dog biscuits he bought from Pets At Home. Chris later took his dog Bailey to the vets to make sure he was ok

One of his emails to the company read: "As a precautionary measure I’m having to take my dog Bailey to the vets today as I’m concerned about what he may have consumed.

"I feel this matter is serious and to be quite honest Bailey is like a child to me so any vouchers don’t represent any conciliation for the danger Bailey has been exposed to.

"This issue would I’m sure be alarming to the general public and customers of yours so I have sought additional advice. I will require complete examined reassurances of why this has happened, what’s being done to prevent such occurrence and what’s being done about like product in circulation before I decide whether I take this further."

Chris Smith was furious to find a stone in a packet of gourmet dog biscuits he bought from Pets At Home. Chris later took his dog Bailey to the vets to make sure he was ok

The company replied: "I am absolutely disgusted. I will get in touch with the warehouse and investigate what has happened here.

"In the meantime I would like to send you some vouchers of goodwill to compensate for what you and your poor dog have experienced. If there is anything else I can do to help please don’t hesitate to email me back on this address."

And another email from the store read: "The Store are sending this back to ourselves & please be assured this will be passed to the relevant technical team member. In the meantime I’ve been informed the supplier are in the process of investigation."

Chris said that he was worried that the item he found could be in other packets of the biscuits. He said: "I was worried sick that this could happen to another dog owner."

The Liverpool man told the ECHO that he bought Bailey after the family's dog died last year.

He said: "I bought Bailey to cheer my mum up after our dog died last year. We have really taken to him and I would have been devastated if anything had happened to Bailey.

I think Bailey should be eating for free at Pets At Home for the next year or so after this ordeal."

Chris Smith was furious to find a stone in a packet of gourmet dog biscuits he bought from Pets At Home. Chris later took his dog Bailey to the vets to make sure he was ok

A spokesperson for Pets At Home confirmed to the ECHO that the item found in the biscuits was a piece of stone.

A spokesperson said: “We were concerned to learn from Mr Smith that he had found what he believed to be a piece of glass in a dog biscuit.

"Of course we take complaints of this nature extremely seriously and, having investigated with our supplier, we can confirm this wasn’t glass but a small stone.

"The biscuits contain carob, which is a naturally harvested ingredient and, although preventative measures are in place which make this a rare event, this is the most likely source of the small stone.

"Mr Smith has been made aware of our findings and we are sorry for any inconvenience this isolated incident may have caused.”