Nearly 9 years ago my friends Lisa and Mark received a phone call that changed their lives. That phone call was from the Labrador Rescue who had received a 10 week old Golden Retriever into their care and they were the lucky family that were chosen to rehome him. Within 30 minutes they had a new member of their family ... Benji.

He is such a friendly soppy dog who absolutely loves people, nearly as much as he loves cheese! He is a retriever that doesn't retrieve and basically an all round goofball but they wouldn't change him for the world.

At the end of June Benji developed sudden severe neck pain and was prescribed pain killers and anti inflammatory tablets but unfortunately didn't improve. and he was in a lot of pain and discomfort . His vet suggested they carry out some x rays to investigate further, but unfortunately these did not show anything. After a long discussion it was decided the best course of action would be a referral to a specialist vet for an MRI scan which would hopefully show the cause of Benji's pain. In the interim he was prescribed stronger pain killers and anti inflammatory drugs to keep him more comfortable. After a couple of days he was a lot more comfortable and even managed to pick up one of his toys for the first time in a couple of weeks ... great progress. Then Benji started to deteriorate and they were advised that this was probably caused by one of the drugs and to stop giving it to him. On the day of our referral Benji started passing blood and was admitted into the specialist vet. Unfortunately Benji's condition has worsened and he continues to lose blood and remains at Davies - he has been diagnosed with hemorrhagic gastroenteritis which will result in a long slow recovery. Their insurance only covers the first £3,000 of the condition and currently their bills stand at £5,350 with no sign of imminent discharge so will increase. Please if you can spare anything at all to help their poor boy they would appreciate it.