A cat's tail was crushed and his jaw split in an accident that nearly cost him his life. And it has left his owner scrabbling to raise thousands of pounds to get him well again.
Laura Browne had always had pet insurance, but a sky-high renewal left her looking around for a better deal. And that's when every pet owner's worst nightmare happened.
Laura, who also has another cat, Mimi, said: "I've always had insurance on my cat and about a month or so ago my renewal came through and it was really really high and I thought 'wow that's a lot of money, I'll shop around'. I hadn't quite got round to going through the quotes on Go Compare and stuff like that when Dash was hurt. It's also to do with the cost of living as well as you're trying to keep all your costs down."
On the day that Dash was injured, Tuesday, November 8, Laura took him straight to the emergency vet and was hit with a bill that she's struggling to pay back. She said: "They wanted me to pay £3,500 that day and I don't have that."
Laura's now on a plan to pay back the money in increments over three months. She said: "I've never once used my insurance in all the years I've had it, so I was really shocked by the cost."
Following this ordeal, Laura created a GoFundMe for Dash to try and raise funds for the operations he's received. Dash had his jaw split open and the vets believed that his tail was run over as it was so "crushed" that it required amputation at the top, reports BerkshireLive.
Dash had the operation to fix his jaw and amputate his tail on Wednesday, November 9, and he is now recovering. Laura herself is recovering from a slipped disc and is coincidentally taking the same pain medication that Dash is on. Laura described what happened the night Dash got injured and said that it was "awful".
She said: "I was just sat here on Tuesday night in my home and he suddenly came bounding through the window and his mouth was covered in blood and it was dripping all down him and onto the floor and I thought 'oh my god, what's happened?' Initially, I thought he may had been in a fight, but there was just too much bleeding, so I called the vets and they put me onto the emergency vets, so I had to take him over there and it was pretty much there they said that they thought he'd been hit by a car."
Laura, who lives in Sandhurst, Berkshire, received Dash two years ago from a friend who had found a pregnant stray that he decided to look after. That friend was the first one to donate money to Laura and she said that she's been taken aback by his and everyone else's generosity and willingness to help Dash out.
In spite of this, a few people haven't been as supportive. Laura said: "A few people have said to me if it is worth the money and that course isn't even an option."
Dash was looked after by vets in Sandhurst and Camberley and Laura said that they had been amazing. "The care they have given Dash and the compassion shown to me has been amazing, I literally couldn't have asked for any more support from them."
