A DOG owner has spoken of her relief after she was reunited with the pet she feared had been stolen from her garden while she was having dialysis treatment.

Lisa Lucas, of Broomfield Common, Sproughton, left her three-year-old pug, called Puggy, in her back garden while she had the treatment at Ipswich Hospital at noon on Friday.

When she returned home at about 6.30pm, the 39-year-old discovered the gate to her garden had been unbolted and Puggy, who is pregnant, was nowhere to be seen.

Miss Lucas immediately set about putting up posters asking for help in her search.

But just a few days after launching her appeal, she received a call from Suffolk police on Monday morning, to say the pet had been found.

Miss Lucas said: “I just collapsed, I couldn’t believe it.

“I was so over the moon, I was so pleased. Words can’t really express it to be honest.

“I thought she had been stolen but someone must have opened the back gate and let her out – it is really strange.”

Miss Lucas has two dogs but her other pet, a labrador, was still in the garden after she returned home from her treatment, which she receives three times a week.

Puggy was taken to West End Farm Kennels in Buxhall, near Stowmarket, after people discovered her in an area of Sproughton.

The pair have now been reunited and Miss Lucas said her pet has been getting plenty of fuss.

She added: “I would like to thank everyone for their help and their support.

“It has been amazing, really good.”