On New Year’s Eve our lovely dog Rufus, had an accident which caused a severe break to one of his front legs. While he was insured, it was limited to £1000 of treatment and to date Rufus’ treatment has cost around £7000 (and this bill will grow). We’re hoping to raise some money to help cover the vet fees. Our story is below.

My name is Dani, I have a husband, Scott and 2 boys who are 6 & 8 years old. Scott wanted a dog for about a year and I kept saying no, I was worried about the cost and extra stress. We both work, Scott is a scaffolder and I’m a nurse working within the NHS. We’d just got both our boys in school and I was looking forward to a bit of time to myself. I had been working as a ward sister in critical care and had suffered a breakdown, working, being a mum, looking after the house, it all felt like too much some days. I’d had 6 weeks off work and was starting to feel like myself again, I was finding time to read and swim, I didn’t want an extra responsibility to upset that balance.

In February 2020 I agreed to go with Scott to look at some German Wire Haired Pointers, in my head I was thinking we’d just look and I would continue to think I didn’t want one. Well, as you can imagine, I totally fell in love! There were 2 boys left, Scott was taken with one, but meanwhile the other one came straight up to me, sniffed me and tried to get in my coat and snuggled into my neck. This was Rufus. We didn’t choose Rufus, he chose me.

It was soon time to bring Rufus home, he was settling in well and we had a good routine. He was such a good puppy, he didn’t whine at night, he only chewed the furniture a little and he was so chilled. We all adored him.

A month after bringing Rufus home the COVID-19 pandemic started to impact on everyone’s lives, but we used the time to have lots of lovely family dog walks especially when the boys needed a break from COVID enforced home school.

I quickly realised that Rufus was incredibly sensitive to my feelings, I would come home exhausted and deflated from a 12 hour shift as a nurse on a COVID ward and Rufus would come bounding up to me for a fuss. Sometimes I would sit on the floor with him cuddled up to me. There were so many days I would be sobbing on the sofa, overwhelmed by the pandemic and Rufus would be there at my side. We would nap together before my night shifts. He was my saviour, my guardian angel, my loyal boy. On walks he would search for the boys if they went out of sight and played with them in any water he could!

On New Year's Eve we decided to have a walk to Millers Dale in Derbyshire, I’d been there before with my Dad and Rufus. We set off, Rufus happily trotting ahead with my boys and my father-in-law (who is in our bubble). Rufus had done a poo, Scott and I were momentarily distracted sorting out a bag and cleaning it up.

The next thing we heard was my father-in-law shouting that Rufus had jumped over the wall. Our side it was a normal looking wall, but the other side was a 60 foot drop.

I hurried to look for him and he was at the bottom, he wasn’t moving, I feared the worst but suddenly he made a big yelp and I knew he was alive. I was terrified and on the verge of tears. My children were incredibly distressed and worried. Scott ran back to the start of the track and went over the wall to get to Rufus. Meanwhile I took the boys back to the car. Soon Scott appeared carrying Rufus, Rufus couldn’t stand up and we were sure he’d broken his leg and feared he might have suffered further internal injuries.

We got him to Derwent Valley Vets as quickly as possible, they took him in and explained that they would call us as soon as he had been assessed.

It was so heartbreaking, when we got home I shut myself in the bathroom and sobbed, I couldn’t believe what had happened.

A couple of hours later we had a call to say that he needed to be transferred to a specialist vets in Wakefield called Paragon Vets. Scott and I went to collect him, he was brought out on a stretcher, they’d given him morphine so he would be comfortable on the journey. I cried all the way to Wakefield.

When we arrived in Wakefield the vet took him off straight away and we were asked to pay a deposit immediately, another blow for us as the possible financial implications started to hit us.

When we got home the boys asked where Rufus was, we explained that he was in doggy hospital and the vets were doing their best to make Rufus better. There were lots of tears and cuddles, we all missed him so much, I couldn’t believe that I’d gone from not wanting a dog at all to knowing he was absolutely an integral part of our family. Waiting for news felt like an eternity.

Eventually the call from the vet came, luckily Rufus didn’t have any internal injuries, he had a fractured Ulna and was suffering from the effects of shock. He would need an operation. Being a nurse, I thought of all the things that could go wrong. It was such a sad New Year and we all missed Rufus cuddles.

I woke up New Year’s Day hoping it was all a dream, that I would walk downstairs and Rufus would be laid in his crate. He wasn’t...

He spent 8 days at the vets in Wakefield, I would wake at 4am every day and call to see how he was. They gave us daily updates. On the day of his operation he had a CT scan, the costs were mounting up, I would do anything for Rufus but was also worrying about how we were going to manage the costs. The vets mentioned they could amputate Rufus’ leg; this was such a shock and threw me completely. In the end, after much discussion with friends and between our family we decided we had to give Rufus the chance of a full life. He’s a large dog and a front limb amputation would be tricky for him to manage, plus at such a young age we didn’t want to limit things for him. The op went ahead, 6 hours later they called to say it had gone well and now Rufus needed time to recover.

He got a temperature post op, as a nurse I knew this could be an inflammatory response, he was started on IV antibiotics. It felt like he would never be allowed home. Finally on 8th January we were able to bring him home. He was so excited to see us, I cried more and then sat and cuddled him in the back of the car for the journey home.

Now home he needs to be on strict rest so is confined to his crate, we want to give him the best chance of recovery, but I do miss our walks and cuddles on the sofa. This is just the start of his road to recovery, he has a follow up appointment to have the staples removed, then 8 weeks on will need another check and post op x-ray.

I am feeling the enormity of all of it, I hate asking for help, but I feel desperate. I have taken on as many extra shifts as I can manage but working as a critical care nurse on COVID wards is taking its toll. I’m mentally and physically drained but am so glad to have my lovely boy back.