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WORDS BY ROSIE CRASS AND LUCY BRYANT PHOTOS: SWNS
Maria Grace, 39, from South dog… stop at nothing to save her sick
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s Bella limped across the floor, I couldn’t help but feel sorry for her. ‘Not long now,’ I soothed, as I gave her a little bit of a fuss. Bella was our eight-year-old Shih Tzu and she was just about to go in for surgery. She’d ruptured her left cruciate ligament and injured her kneecap in the process. She needed an operation, but Bella was used to that. At the age of eight, she’d already had seven operations – almost one a year! She’d been prone to breaking bones in her legs or damaging the ligaments. ‘Will this one be too much for her?’ I worried, to my fiancé Gareth, 36. ‘Hopefully this will be the last time she needs any
surgery,’ he said, trying his best to reassure me. I didn’t like the thought of her going in for any more operations, but this was our only option now. Besides, Bella was such a happy little dog, there was no way we wouldn’t give her the chance to get better. In 2011, when we picked her out at the breeders, we’d been told she had a weakness in her left side. If anything, it only made us love her even more. My daughter Charlotte, now 18, had a weakness in her left leg like Bella and it felt like it was meant to be. ‘We have to get her, Mum,’ Charlotte pleaded. ‘She’s so cute.’ I was besotted and didn’t take much persuading. A d h Gareth
Bella as a pup 32
days before her eighth surgery, Bella injured herself again. Leaping off the sofa, she landed funny on her right leg. As she lay crying on the ground, I immediately called the vets. ‘It’s OK,’ I soo but it was awful her in so much p I rushed her t but it wasn’t loo ‘Be eme the v ‘She’s done the same on her right leg and this one seems worse.’ ‘Will she be OK?’ I worried. ‘We won’t know until after she’s had the operation,’ the vet explained. When she came around, all seemed to go well, but only time would tell. Weeks after, Bella was still no better and it was clear the surgery hadn’t worked. She was completely lame on her right side and couldn’t even toe tap on the floor. I wasn’t sure what more could be done. ‘We’ve got two options,’ the vet explained. ‘She could go for specialist surgery in Bristol. ‘They’ll be able to give her metal knees and a special kind
Our only other option was to put Bella to sleep
h h ogs became able. y were both m the same eders and ere brother nd sister. Although Bella couldn’t always keep up with Len, she tried her best and we loved them both to bits. They were our abies. But just
We’ve all chipped in g replacement for the cruciate. ‘It would be risky, and Bella would need physio, hydrotherapy and a lot of medication to get through it. ‘But if anyone can fix Bella, then these guys can,’ the vet reassured us. ‘Is there anything else we can try?’ I asked. ‘Your only other option is to put Bella to sleep,’ he explained, gently. I was devastated. Bella meant the world to all of us. ‘I’m not ready to give up on her,’ I said, determined. Bella was so happy and full of life, it seemed unfair to cut it so short. But the surgery wasn’t going to come cheap, and our pet insurance didn’t cover anything to do with Bella’s legs as she’d had the condition from birth. We’d have to find the
