Stand by Ted - help him walk again.

Poor little Ted had the worst start in life. Found abandoned on the streets of Bosnia at three or four weeks old, he came to us through Blind Dog Rescue UK  two years ago. He arrived with huge behavioral problems and extreme anxiety, and even WE thought we'd bitten off more than we could chew with him. He was terrified of pretty much everything, and his terror manifested as extreme aggression. With love and kindness (and a lot of time) he became the sweetest, kindest and most trusting dog in the world: he quite literally is our world now. He loves his humans as well as his doggy family and his cat family (we have several dogs & cats that have been rescued from the most awful abuse and who came to us from Spain, Thailand, Romania and Bosnia) , and until recently he adored exploring the world with us all on our daily walks. 

Then we noticed a change. While he still loved to walk with us, afterwards he would cry for hours with pain. He couldn't stand up. He was totally unable to walk. He would try bravely to drag himself around using his little front legs, crying all the time. It's utterly heartbreaking to watch and hear. Of course we took him straight to our vet, who immediately diagnosed the awful problems that our brave little boy has been suffering with.

X-rays showed that his kneecaps are almost constantly dislocating, and that his anterior cruciate ligament in one knee is completely ruptured, while in the other knee it is partially ruptured. In addition, he has severe hip dysplasia. This all means that every step he takes causes him grinding agony in his hip joints in addition to the pain caused by constantly dislocating kneecaps and knee joints . Normally, these conditions are seen in older dogs: it looks like poor Ted inherited some lousy genes that have caused him to suffer quite horribly, as if his start in life wasn't awful enough.

On 5th September he will have the first of two major operations to rebuild and stabilise his legs. Called a Triple Tibial Osteotomy (along with a Cranial Closing Wedge Osteotomy), he is facing a long road to recovery. Without these operations, he will be unable to walk or run or play, or enjoy the kind of happiness we've worked so hard for him to enjoy. At only two and a half years old, he needs these operations if he is to have any quality of life at all. We want him to be pain-free and happy; to be the carefree little boy he deserves to be.

Here's the rub: the operations will cost just over £2780 each (one for each leg). His x-rays alone cost over £600. His insurance will cover him - we hope! - for the first £3000 of the total bill, but that leaves us with quite a substantial shortfall to cover. We've already cancelled our holiday this year (I was due to run the Chicago Marathon in October in aid of Breast Cancer and the Berlin Marathon for Prostate Cancer, but we've had to cancel these, too) in order to redirect all our money towards safeguarding Teddy's future. He, along with our other rescue dogs and cats, is our family; he's our world. He deserves everything we can give him. To allow him to continue to suffer - and to get progressively worse - is unthinkable, and we will literally move heaven and earth if we have to to prevent this from happening.

We would be so very grateful for anything you could spare in order to help us to help him. Quite literally, every single £1 will help in the battle ahead to get him pain-free and back on his feet again where he should be - running and having fun with his brothers and sisters rather than crying in pain in a corner. Thank you so very much x