Hello everyone

On the 21st January 2026, our dog, Sonny, was on his usual rounds with his dog walker in the surrounding area to our home. Without any preamble or issues, a passing dog walker and his three dogs crossed their path, where with no provocation one of these said dogs attacked Sonny at which time he sustained multiple injuries and was thrown into the road (where luckily the driver passing at this time had the reactionary skills to avoid causing further injury)

In the scuffle, the dog walker was also injured with a bite to her hand which has led to jabs and medical treatment – luckily we had some good Samaritans in the local area at the time of the incident who helped her and Sonny to get inside the local store to where they could gain temporary safety before rushing Sonny to a nearby vets for treatment. During the chaos of it all, the owner of the other dogs fled the scene – refusing on requests from bystanders to remain and to take ownership of the damage caused.

After this initial review with the first vets, Sonny was sent home with some medications – soon after, however, he began to show signs of greater injury which led to visits to our usual vets, then an overnight animal hospital, and soon after a decision to move him to a specialist for emergency surgery due to their findings via X-ray and tests.

At time of writing, the bill for Sonny’s treatment at all four venues is £5000 (after insurance)

All of this has been reported to the police and they are following due process in identifying / pursuing the individual responsible – again, local bystanders and responders on social media have been nothing but conscientious and supportive in helping us find the person who refused to take responsibility. We intend to prosecute wherever our powers allow us to and seek compensation.

This however may take months or years, and from what we’ve gathered so far in our own investigations, the person is unlikely to hold up their hands and offer any restitutions – needless to say we will ensure that we do everything in our power to make this happen.

In the meantime, we are concerned that our ability to support Sonny will be greatly affected – we have some monies put aside for emergencies, however with a newborn on the way and depleted earning potential due to the maternity leave associated with this exciting, yet straining new experience, we are embarrassed to be putting out an appeal for support. Our pet insurance for these sorts of situations will be somewhat helpful, but it will not be enough to cover the bills in their entirety.

This is not something we want to do, and have had much resistance in considering this step – however we feel we need to explore all options in the interim to ensure we can pay the bills that have landed on our doorstep until we can get some sort of resolution

If we do receive any compensation from the perpetrator, we pledge to donate all funds matching any donations to RSCPA Norwich.

Thanks for all of your time - any message of support or donation, no matter how small is deeply appreciated