Have a heart! Labrador Tess needs £7,500 to save her life
WITH her soulful eyes and gentle nature, Tess the golden labrador is a much-loved member of little Joseph Foster’s family.
So they were devastated when the 17-month-old dog was diagnosed with a heart condition needing a £7,500 life-saving operation – overseen by a surgeon who normally operates on humans.
Tess has suffered heart failure twice in the past six months. Desperate to give her every chance of survival, the family has launched an online appeal to raise the money for the surgery.
Yesterday Joseph, six, said of Tess, bought for £400 from a breeder as a puppy: ‘I love her because she’s my dog. If people give us money for the operation it will help Tess to live.
‘She nearly died one day. I would feel happy if she had the operation because she will be happy.’
The first sign that Tess was ill was when she was a year old. After she became lethargic and started being sick, vets found that her heart was beating too fast. She was put on tablets to keep it under control.
But last month Tess fell ill again. This time vets diagnosed atrioventricular reciprocating tachycardia – where too many electrical pathways caused her heart to beat too fast – and warned the family to prepare for the worst unless Tess had the operation.
Joseph lives in Bridport, Dorset, with his father James Foster, 44, mother Rachael Rogers, 42, a healthcare assistant, and sister Ellie, 17.
Tess is insured, but her illness has nearly used up the £3,000 limit per condition and Mr Foster, a lecturer at Weymouth College, says he cannot afford to pay for the surgery.
‘This disease is a death sentence. If Tess has the operation there’s a 90 to 95 per cent chance she will be OK,’ he said.
‘She means the absolute world to us. People who don’t have a dog can say, “Oh, it’s only a dog, you can just get it put down”. But if you’re a dog owner then you love the animal and they’re part of the family. It costs so much because they need a human heart surgeon to carry it out or oversee it.’
Mr Foster said the specialist who might treat Tess, at Davies Veterinary Specialists in Hitchin, Hertfordshire, has seen only eight or nine dogs with the condition.
It is highly unusual for a non-veterinary doctor to operate on an animal. It happens in rare procedures which the veterinary surgeon feels would benefit from the involvement of a medical specialist.
Earlier this year a hospital gynaecologist performed an emergency caesarean on a gorilla at Bristol Zoo.
Last night, the total on the family’s fundraising page www.justgiving.com/ crowdfunding/helpsaveTess stood at £1,520. Thanks to a quiz night and cash donations, they have so far raised a total of £2,200.