I never thought we would be in this position…We have always done the right thing and insured all of our animals, but this time our insurance has failed us and we are facing the hardest possible decision for our beloved Scottish Deerhound Nessie.

As responsible owners we bought Nessie directly from her breeder where all correct testing and puppy screening was carried out.

However in the last few months it has come to light that at the tender age of 14 months Nessie has developed a liver shunt, which is a congenital disease that, although undetected when she was a puppy, has started to make her really sick.

We first noticed something was wrong when Nessie started pacing around, panting and being sick. She seemed drunk as she was out of it and very very wobbly and was crying constantly, which is just not like our happy go lucky pupper.

We of course rushed her to the vets where we asked them to throw the book at her and do everything they needed to do to make her better (as we all do for our fur babies).

After lots of diagnostic testing and imaging the vets have confirmed a big liver shunt as the cause of Nessie’s issues. They’ve advised that the only way to fix this is for Nessie to undergo major surgery, costs for which will start at £7000.

Now this is where we are completely up against the wall, as we have reached our condition limit on the insurance and our insurers have advised they will not pay out any more for this claim. As it stands, we have already paid £3,500 on testing for Nessie, only some of which will be recouped through insurance. The cost of the surgery to fix Nessie’s shunt and aftercare will have to be entirely covered by us.

We have already begun the process has begun of selling everything that is not nailed down, however even after this, we’re still short of the cost of the operation by around £8500 as we still have an outstanding balance to pay at the vets which the insurance have told me they will not cover.

Meanwhile Nessie’s day to day life is becoming increasingly limited as the effects of the shunt take their toll. Nessie is in lots of medication daily to keep the toxins down in her body, these however are giving her a sore tummy and although a bit better she is still not herself and has very bad days where she won’t get out of bed. If we don’t get this operation the outlook for nessie is bleak, due to her liver not working it is having a knock on effect on the rest of her body and small illness that wouldn’t usually effect healthy dogs can be fatal for her; eventually she will go into liver failure and then we would have to do the unthinkable and out a young dog to sleep.

It is for this reason we’re turning to our community of fellow animal lovers for help. I have never had to do this before for any of my animals (we own two other dogs and have always been able to cover costs ourselves) and I feel embarrassed to be doing this now. However Nessie’s quality of life is more important than my pride and myself and my partner would do anything for her.

We know how tough times are for everyone, and that a penny of anyone’s money at the moments a huge ask. However we’d be so grateful for anything that people can spare right now. Anything that gets us closer to being able to meet Nessie’s surgery costs, and anything that gets Nessie closer to having a normal life again. And if you can’t donate, please can we ask that you share this page with others who you think will? We’ve seen the power of community fundraising work in the past for others and so we’re putting our faith in the generosity of people again to make this request.

So please, if you can, donate, and help us make Nessie whole again.