Wiganers dig deep to help cover poorly dog's vets bills

Kindhearted donors are coming to the aid of a poorly dog whose vets bills are mounting up for his doting owner.
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Kindhearted donors are coming to the aid of a poorly dog whose vets bills are mounting up for his doting owner.

Arthur, a seven-year-old Old English Mastiff, has recently had an abscess on his foot, resulting in him needing to have an operation to have one of his toes amputated at the RSPCA in Salford.

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Following the operation, Arthur required a further operation to re-stitch the wound, and his owner Tracey Tinsley has needed to take him for daily visits over the last four weeks to tend to the healing.

Arthur and TraceyArthur and Tracey
Arthur and Tracey

She was informed by the RSPCA that due to Arthur’s size, he needed further operations for skin grafts and laser treatment.

But the animal welfare charity was unable to perform those operations, so she would need to seek further treatment from a private vet.

It has proved a difficult endeavour for Tracey, a single mum-of-two from Abram, who works part-time so that she can care for her father.

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Fortunately, kindhearted Wiganers have come to Arthur’s aid by donating cash to cover his vet bills, a fund-raising campaign which vets urged Tracey to set up.

Arthur and TraceyArthur and Tracey
Arthur and Tracey

The 36-year-old said: “I’ve had Arthur since he was a puppy. This issue started four or five weeks ago. It started when he couldn’t put his paw down on the floor.

“Although I was paying the funds at the RSPCA, it is a fraction of the price of a private vet. I haven’t got insurance, and it is costing me £100 a

month,

“Being a part-time worker in a supermarket, and a carer for my dad, and with my son being on the autistic spectrum, I can’t even increase my hours at work because there’s too many people that rely on me.

“I just couldn’t afford the pet insurance.”

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She went on: “Arthur is such a lovely, laid back dog, that he even let the vet remove his stitches without any sedation. He’s like a teddy bear.

“It was (the vet’s) advice, he said to me ‘go and set a fund-raising page up, and see where it goes.”

The Go Fund Me page has so far raised more than £1,000 to help Arthur’s recovery, more than half way to its target of £2,000.

Tracey said: “Purely because of his size, anything you do with him is expensive.

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“It’s costing £70 a week just for antibiotics. It’s not like my vet has said ‘his time is up, he’s suffering’.

“He believes he will be fine if he gets the extra treatment that he needs.

“It was his recommendation that we set this page up, I couldn’t go against that advice and not do that.

“I’m just trying to be positive. I’ve been heartbroken, but I’ve been driving forward. Sitting down and crying isn’t going to help my dog, I need to be productive.”

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She added: “If you can find it in your heart to donate towards Arthur’s treatment, no matter how large or small the contribution it would be gratefully appreciated.”

Donations can be made to help cover Arthur’s care bills by clicking here.

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