We found Lucy on Christmas Day at the cemetery in Plovdiv, Bulgaria. She weighs only 20kg when a healthy female of her breed should be twice as much. Lucy is really friendly and well behaved and we believe she was a pet that got abandoned some time ago, since she knows how to go on a leash and get in and out of a car. Her condition is very poor (she is malnourished and has dirofilaria, a type of worm that lives in her heart and can be lethal if not treated) but we took her to the vet and they are trying to stabilise her. She wouldn’t have lasted the winter on the streets of Plovdiv as a homeless dog. Both my sister and I live abroad (Germany and the UK respectively) and can't take care of Lucy permanently but we really want to help her become a healthy, happy dog once again and find a loving family. We found Lucy when we went home for Christmas and she is now being looked after by the team of vets and a couple of good-hearted volunteers who are also helping us with the logistics of this campaign.

So far we know that Lucy is about 5 years old and seems to be a cross between a pit bull and another breed. Apart from the dirofilaria, she is missing most of her teeth (probably from eating stones together with the little food she found on the streets), has swollen front paws, some minor wounds on her ears and muzzle and an open wound on her tail, i.e. the end of it is missing and you can see the tip of the bone. She is not spayed or microchipped but both interventions will be needed in order for her to be adopted successfully. We are updating more details on a Facebook page we set up for Lucy so more recent news can be found there and will be added as soon as we can.

Here is what Lucy needs the most:

1) Food - she will need a lot of this to get back to normal weight. A 12kg sack costs EUR52 and will last her about 25 days. She will need at least 2 of these if she is adopted quickly but most likely finding her a new home will take a while, so this is an ongoing cost we must cover. We've included the cost of three sacks of food in the fundraising target.

2) Temporary stay at a vet clinic until her condition is stabilised (the one where she is staying is called Novet) - To regain some of her stregth, Lucy has to stay at the vet clinic for up to 3 weeks. This costs EUR6 per day (there is a discount for this because she is homeless and the normal price is otherwise EUR8). That comes up to EUR126. After this Lucy can go to a foster family until she is adopted.

3) Medical treatment - The vets ran a series of tests, most of which were negative or not showing reason for serious concern with the exception of dirofilaria. The treatment for this starts with a month of antibiotics (doxycicline). After this Lucy will need a test to decide if she can go onto the next stage of treatment. We don't know how much this would cost yet but her medical bill so far (less food and stay at the clinic) is EUR185. This includes a check up by the vet, a series of infusions for dehydration, blood, urine and stool tests, a SNAP 4D test, a KW Knott test, a Leishmania Anigen test (negative), an ultrasound to assess if she has any problems with uterus (luckily, she hasn't). Lucy will also need to be spayed and microchipped. The rest of her treatment is likely to be another EUR200-250.

4) Homeless dogs in Bulgaria are very rarely adopted. We therefore want to raise another EUR150 for an international passport and travel expenses for Lucy to go to her new family. I live in the UK, my sister - in Germany and her partner - in the Netherlands, so this is where we are currently looking for help with this. Money aside, this would be the hardest change for Lucy so any help will be much appreciated. Do share her story with people who you know care about stray animals, who are looking for a new pet or know someone who is.

The total fundraising target we calculated we need to raise to help Lucy is: 3x52+126+185+250+150=EUR867. We've set this to £800 with the last £50 needed to cover the fees we have to pay for the campaign itself - a 5% fee by JustGiving and another 1.25-1.45% for card payments. Any money left after Lucy's treatment and living costs until she is adopted will be redirected to other homeless dogs in need of help, either via specialised rescue centres or by donating the money to the veterinary clinic, which regularly receives stray animals rescued by concerned citizens. We've seen three only in the week in which we have been taking care of Lucy.