Meet Doris, also known as Wonky Dot. Doris is a one year old Rhodesian Ridgeback who we chose from a litter of 8 and brought her home to live with us when she was 8 weeks old. She soon settled into our crazy family snuggling up to my daughter Cora, playing with her big brother Norman, another Ridgeback, and teasing the life out of Barbara the kitten, or is it the other way round? I’m not sure!

After a short while though I became increasingly aware that she was struggling to sit correctly, lie comfortably and seemed to be lame at times. Having owned dogs my entire life I knew something wasn’t right and took her to the vets to get checked out. The vet x-rayed her and we were stunned to discover that poor Doris had previously broken her leg. Judging by the extent of calcification, this likely happened in the litter. See the image below:

As the fracture was undiagnosed and untreated before she came to us, her bone was shorter and it's also healed in a twisted position, meaning that her kneecap and lower leg bone is wonky too and her muscles and ligaments have to work extra hard to compensate for all of this. Surgery will look to realign her femur but will likely not change her leg length.

To fix this properly though and give Doris the quality of life she deserves she has undergone hefty surgery. Maciej is an orthopaedic surgeon at Wear referrals and on the 28th of March after months of planning, he reconstructed Doris' femur and tibia using implants and displacing muscles to attempt to give Doris a better future, one without pain and dysfunction.

Although this in the main went well, she reacted badly in term of swelling/hematoma/seroma and needed not only to go back into hospital to control the swelling, but she also had to have revision surgery on the 4th of April to relocate nad secure her Patellar. This involved a whole new incision and the making the femoral notch in her femur deeper and sutures to encourage the Patellar to track where it is meant to. Doris has another 6 weeks of crate rest, a load more meds and a long long road to recovery with future scan/physio and hydrotherapy.

I have modified my life over many moths to accommodate her needs so that I can look after her as best I can, meaning I am unable to work as much too.

The breeder has sadly washed her hands of Doris and not responded to me when I advised her of the magnanimity of Doris' plight.

I have maxed out Doris' insurance on finding out what was wrong with her. It was hoped the costs could be spread over the next year's policy but the timings won't work out sadly so there is a humongous shortfall that I have covered, added to that is that fact that my earnings have and will continue to decrease significantly over the coming months, and I have spent an awful lot on making modifications for Doris as well as buying all the she needs to help her recover well. The financial impact is massive and the total spend so far is over £17k.

I have no idea how much Doris’s health care will end up costing as if surgery fails then we‘d be looking at amputating her leg which will cost more again. Forever positive though, I’m confident that I, Maciej and the team at Wear referrals will do all we can to give her the best life possible.

I am devastated to have another poorly Ridgeback, my old girl KoKo had Polycythemia from age 3 to 13 and it took so much time, money and a huge modification of my lifestyle to give her what she needed. I have to look to do the same for Doris, whatever it takes.

It makes me uncomfortable to ask others to help a dog that I should be able to pay for. However a few friends who know how bonkers my life is, and how much I deal with already, have suggested I try this to help ease at least some of the financial pressure and extra stress that little Dot's situation is causing.

If you could see your way to donating even the smallest amount to help Doris we would eternally grateful.

Thank you for reading our story. Any help will be so appreciated. I post updates of Wonky Dot's journey on facebook and instagram and I'm hoping that ultimately we can get this girl to be the dog she's meant to be...pain free and running/walking/living without a wonk in sight.

To try and spur more donations, my friend Jenny and I are walking from Corbridge to Newcastle through the night of the 6th of May. It'll take around 9 hours in the pitch black. Our stumble in the dark will hopefully help fund Doris being less stumbly and un-wonk her! Thank you in abundance for your support.

Every best wish

Kelly x