Surgery for Zoey

My name is Zoey. I am a 2 ½ years old blue heeler Labrador cross. I live with my human mummy and daddy and uncle out in the country in the Bay of Plenty area of North Island.

They love me very much and I am so glad I chose them to be my forever family when I was only a little baby pup.

A few months ago I started limping a little as if my back left leg was hurting so mummy, daddy and uncle took me to the vet who put it down to my toenails getting long and after he trimmed them I seemed ok for a little while. But a few weeks later when I went down the drive with mummy to collect the mail I sat down on the grass because my legs felt tired. Mummy walked back to the house thinking I would follow her but when she looked round, instead of seeing me at her feet I was still near the bottom of the drive. Then a car turned in and drove up to the house. It wasn’t daddy’s car and I wanted to know who was coming so I ran as fast as I could up to the house to make sure mummy was alright.

That evening, mummy and daddy noticed that I wasn’t walking properly on my back legs but shuffling on my bottom to get around. They could see I was hurting and mummy sat up most of the night with me and next day mummy daddy and uncle took to me to see the vet again. I had to stay the night there while they did tests and they found out that I had severely damaged the ligaments in one of my back legs. The vet said the best thing that mummy, daddy and uncle could do was to take me to see another specialist vet who could do an operation which would make my leg better. Although they knew it would cost a lot of money, mummy, daddy and uncle, because they love me so much, decided that this was what they had to do. When we went to see the specialist vet, he explained how he would put a metal plate in my leg and that although it would take a while to get better I would be able to walk properly again. When he examined me thoroughly though he found that it was not just one but both of my back legs that needed the operation which means the cost which mummy, daddy and uncle were already going to find hard to afford will be twice as much as they expected. They love me so much and are determined to give me the best chance to walk and run and play as I used to. I have to spend quite a lot of time in my cage at the moment as I am only young and often forget that I can’t run and jump like I could before. I know this is for my own good, but I can’t help feeling sad sometimes which also makes mummy, daddy and uncle sad too.

I love them so much too and would be so grateful if any of you lovely people who understand what they are trying to do for me could help them in any small way.

Lots of licky kisses,

Love from

Zoey