DOGS used for fighting are often subjected to black market vet treatment as their owners try to disguise their injuries.
Medical staplers, super glue and sutures have been discovered during raids on homes suspected of housing dogs used in fighting.
The equipment is often stolen from legitimate veterinary practices, with dog owners performing their own DIY surgery at home.
An undercover investigator for the Scottish SPCA explained: "Owners get involved in the treatment, as they can't bring their dog to the vet.
"We catch people with medical staplers and veterinary drugs in their possession, antibiotics as well.
"Dogs will have their faces stapled back together after fights, it's awful.
"The biggest organised dog fight ever caught in Scotland was in Kennoway in Fife in 1991. When we raided the place the amount of stolen veterinary drugs they had for pain relief proved that point.
"They can’t buy it legally so they were breaking in and stealing the drugs from surgeries. 31 people were caught, from all over the UK.
"Now veterinary practices are much more secure and drugs are very well documented, but people still get hold of things to do their own treatments.
"In some cases, it's horrendous for the dogs who go untreated. They can be just dumped on the streets if they owner doesn't want them nor doesn't know how to treat them."
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