A puppy had a lucky escape after falling into a borrowed hot tub while his owners were not watching.

The 13-week-old English bulldog, named Boris, suffered an extreme reaction after inhaling lungfuls of chlorinated water.

He was rushed to an emergency clinic in Gateshead where a team of specialists from Vets Now battled through the night to save him.

His owner Sarah Cash, 34, has urged others to be aware of potential hazards to their pets.

“It wasn’t even our hot tub,” she said.

“It belongs to a friend who said we could borrow it while his garden is being done up.

“(My husband) Kyall was fixing a washer and I had popped into the kitchen to check on tea when I heard (my daughter) Eve say Boris was in the tub.

When Boris was pulled out of the jacuzzi he was struggling to breathe and the local vet was closed.

“His breathing was so bad I didn’t think he was going to make it,” said Ms Cash.

“We were devastated and felt so guilty.

“We’d never leave our daughter alone near water and we’d turned our backs and this had happened to our puppy.”

Ms Cash’s husband hurried Boris to the Vets Now centre, which is part of a national network of clinics and hospitals open seven days a week for out-of-hours pet emergencies.

The puppy needed oxygen through a special nose catheter to help him stabilise.

“The chlorine had caused inflammation on his lungs,” said senior vet nurse Ashley Wemple at Vets Now Gateshead.

“The fact he’s a bulldog puppy means he struggles with breathing at the best of times.

“This made him a very challenging patient.

“He was still wheezy the following morning and by no means out of the woods.

“In reality, he only survived thanks to the fast reactions of his owners and the skill and professionalism of the vets and vet nurses involved in his treatment.”

Boris needed one-to-one treatment throughout the weekend and was only discharged on Sunday.

His accident comes as sales of back garden hot tubs increased massively during lockdown.

According to This Is Money, sales have leapt by over 1,000% in recent months as families spent more time at home and used refunds from cancelled holidays for home improvements.

“He’s fine now but it was such a scare,” said Ms Cash.

“I can’t stress enough how careful people need to be with their pets around hot tubs and how dangerous the chlorine can be.

“You need to have eyes in the back of your head.”