Woman sells her Audi to save dog (From The Westmorland Gazette)
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Woman sells her Audi to save dog
8:38am Friday 16th April 2004 in News By Lisa Frascarelli
Jill Wood from Low Bentham with her 20-month-old dog Zakh, now fit and well after an operation on his liver paid for by the sale of her Audi 6
A DEVOTED dog owner has told how she sold her car to pay for the family pet's life-saving surgery, reports Lisa Frascarelli.
When Low Bentham's Jill Wood was faced with the choice of funding a £2,000 vet's bill or seeing her sick puppy Zakh put down she knew there was only one choice.
"When Zakh was six months old we lost our other retriever Rhodry and we thought Zakh was suffering from depression," she said. "He just wasn't bouncing around like a puppy. We took him to dog school thinking if he saw another retriever he would pick up but he just got worse.
"He started snapping and snarling so we took him to the vet who thought it was a thyroid problem. Zakh went on a course of tablets but they didn't work."
After months of watching her dog slowly degenerate Mrs Wood was told the bad news Zakh had a rogue vein, which was by-passing his liver and pouring toxins back into his system.
The good news was it could be cured but the operation came with a four-figure price tag.
"Zakh was referred to the Liverpool Veterinary College where they found he had a shunt on his liver. The vet said that around 95 per cent of the toxins were just going back into his body," she explained. "We were told he needed an operation which would cost just short of £2,000. He had a 50/50 chance of survival and it was a case of I had to try to do something.
"A lot of people said it was too expensive for a dog but I decided I would sell our Audi it was the only option."
Zakh was referred to a specialist hospital in Cheshire for extensive surgery where after a "nerve-racking" 24 hours Jill was told the puppy had got through the operation.
"He was kept in for a week, but when we were told that Zakh had stolen the surgeon's sandwiches we knew he was getting better," she said.
Zakh is now enjoying an illness-free life and has returned to the Kirkby Lonsdale and District Dog Club where he has recently been voted Dog of the Month.
"He's a completely different dog now. At one stage he couldn't walk round the block last week he did Helvellyn. It's all been worth it," added Mrs Wood.
