£10,000 raised for pup’s hip surgery
Generous donations and marathon undertakings fund greyhound cross’ titanium hip replacements surgery
ACOURAGEOUS dog who was “totally broken” when rescued as a puppy has made a full recovery - thanks to public generosity and two titanium hips.
Greyhound cross Seb captured the hearts of our readers in 2017 after Rossendale Responsible Animal Rescue (RRAR) launched a £10,000 fundraising appeal to fund desperately needed surgery.
The charity’s Heather Kane said he “was on Death Row”, emaciated and petrified of humans before she took him in to her home in Rawtenstall.
Painstakingly, over the past two years, she has witnessed Seb emerge from his near “catatonic state”, thanks to a highly unusual double hip operation in July 2018 funded by donations to Seb’s Hip Fund.
Heather herself raised £4,126 from a sponsored skydive from 15,000 feet, while her friend Tracy Entwistle raised more than £3,500 from doing a half marathon.
An “endless” list of contributors also includes Kay Turner, of Haslingden High School, Shuttleworth Vets, The Simply Local Store, Kershaw Printers, the Hargreaves Arms, “The Water Witches” from The Commercial pub, Julie Lazenbury, and even Coronation Street’s Sam Aston who printed and donated ‘Save Seb’ T shirts.
Heather wants to publicly thank everyone who contributed to Seb’s rehabilitation, which included a lengthy recovery time after the surgery when he had to be kept in a large cage to stop him running around.
She said: “It’s amazing; the same people have donated over and over again. It’s a great story for a dog with no name that was on Death Row really. Everybody got on board and took him into their hearts. It’s quite humbling. I just thought if I could raise £1,000 or so and I would pay the rest but the amount just went up and up. We have raised over £10,000 for him. It’s been a complete success. The surgeon said the only reason he was walking was because all he had known was pain. He can run around now like any other dog and he’s painfree.”
Heather said she took him in because he needed such intense care, and she has four other retired greyhounds anyway, with whom he now loves going to the beach. However, she said it took well over a year to establish the normal and unique bond shared between owner and dog.
She said: “It was mentally draining. He didn’t even look at you or make eye contact and was too frightened to eat. When you stroked him he was like a little cardboard cutout; he didn’t know what it was. It’s taken months and months.”
They had two options when Seb was diagnosed with severe hip displacia and being mentally shut down, the vet said he could be euthanised or see a orthopaedic surgeon to see if they could do anything for him, albeit at a considerable cost.
Heather added: “There was only ever one option for me and that was to see if he was a candidate to have two new hips and show this dog love and kindness so that eventually he could enjoy life as he deserves. The motto of Rossendale Responsible Animal Rescue is that you cannot put a price on a life and so Seb’s hip fund was set up by the founder of the charity Michaela Howard Holt and the manager Tracy Haslam.”
Heather said Seb has undergone hydrotherapy at Canine Health & Hydro at Rimmington whose expertise has achieved amazing results physically and mentally as the swimming has given Seb confidence. His nurse Ruth Halliwell Jones continues to give him hydrotherapy on the treadmill each month.
Canine Health & Hydro owners Steve and his wife Poppy host an event each year in aid of a dog charity and this year’s dog grooming event on December 19 will see all monies raised donated to Rossendale Responsible Animal Rescue.
Heather added: “Tom Gilding from Gilding orthopaedics operated on Seb and really took Seb into his heart and has done an absolutely amazing job, which has not only changed Seb’s life but saved it.
“Tom has remained in contact throughout the whole recovery process and has seen Seb for check up appointments and this has been invaluable to Seb’s recovery.
“Seb will live with me for the remainder of his life and will have a very happy, loved life with my other dogs.”