A ONLINE appeal has been launched to help a therapy dog receive the medical treatment it needs to return to doing its work in care homes.
Amber the lurcher has been offering comfort to people in nursing homes since 2017 but has had to give up her twice weekly visits to the Manor House, in Barnard Castle, after becoming lame.
Owner Carroll Trevor, from Hutton Magna, says she has been let down by her pet insurance which will not cover the cost of a scan to find out what is wrong with Amber.
Visits to veterinary surgeries have also not revealed the problem.
She said: “I’ve been told all sorts of things – it could be a tumour, it could be arthritis, yet when they did the X-ray I was told that she didn’t have arthritis and she should go and have hydrotherapy.”
The insurance did not cover the X-ray either and only partly covered the cost of the hydrotherapy.
Ms Trevor said: “That is why I put the ‘gofundme’ page up, because I do need to know what she has. I can’t change insurance companies until I do know what she has.
“The pet insurance policy has been put up to £569 per year and I don’t know what I can now claim on it.
“I am totally lost, I don’t know where I am going. I am miserably uncomfortable having to ask people for money but I have no other option – the cost of a scan will be minimum £2,400, more likely £3,000.”
Ms Trevor became interested in signing up as a therapy dog volunteer while visiting her husband Harry in various nursing homes after he suffered a stroke and developed vascular dementia.
She said: “That is the best thing I have ever done.
“A lot of people who go into nursing homes have had to give up a dog, so they might not talk to me but they will talk to the dog because it brings back wonderful memories.
“Dementia patients might not know who they are or where they are, but they will tell you all about their little dog Timmy, or their beautiful Collie, and suddenly things start to move again.
“Therapy dogs is the most amazing thing.”
People can support the fundraising campaign by visiting gofundme.com/f/help-
for-ambers-scan.
The campaign has so far raised almost £700.
