A woman is overwhelmed with worry as her one-year-old puppy dramatically declines in veterinary hospital and she struggles to pay the funds. Heather Emberley, 60, from Wateringbury, Kent, took her boxer Clyde to the vets two weeks ago after he went off his food - medics are now struggling to diagnose his condition as his body has "gone into a crisis".
Heather, who works as a cleaner, is now desperately doing everything in her power to save his life. She told the Mirror: "It is so worrying and now they send me a daily text reminding me of the total. I really dread that text coming through. Christmas is looming, everything has gone up astronomically and now this enormous vets bill. I have no idea how I'm going to get it paid."
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With the help of her young daughter, Heather has set up a GoFundMe page and is cutting down on anything she can to try and save money.
Heather continued: "They vets have said unless he starts to improve, he won't survive.
"I am not even asking what things are costing because there's no question of refusing anything that might help him, but I work as a self-employed cleaning lady and my funds are exhausted.
"I don't know how I'm going to afford this but I know somehow I'll have to find a way.
"I don't know if anyone can help and I don't really see why anyone should as it's my problem, but I'm worried enough to try."
Heather only welcomed the young boxer into her home last year, and says he was energetic and playful pup until everything changed on August 23.
"He normally eats well then two weeks ago, he wouldn't eat his dinner. I feed him twice a day and he'd had a big breakfast so I wasn't too worried, but the following morning, he wouldn't eat again," she explained.
Heather took Clyde straight to the vets, where the poor pooch suffered from diarrhoea filled with blood.
He was initially diagnosed with hemorrhagic gastroenteritis, but after X-rays, blood tests and various scans, medics have been unable to pinpoint what is causing the rapid decline.
"They said it's quite rare but it happens, it's like his body has gone into crisis," Heather said.
"They're now talking about blood transfusions or Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons but that's thousands - I can't afford that.
"Already the bills are enormous. I went to put a claim in for the initial appointment and found out his insurance only goes up to £2,000 which is going to be a drop in the ocean."
The initial investigation and X-ray cost £1,500 but has since sky rocketed to £6,500 with added treatments and a full-time stay in hospital.
"He has gone from being a healthy, strong, robust boxer to a skeletal shadow of his former self," Heather said.
"He is currently being fed tiny amounts of food through a tube sewn into his nose because he still won't eat. Every phone call from the vet seems to bring further problems.
"I usually struggle to hold him as he's 4.7st and a strong dog, but yesterday I was able to walk him with one finger on the lead."
Heather visits sweet-natured Clyde in hospital every single day, and sometimes bring him home for a few hours to play with Bonnie the one-year-old pug.
"He wants to go for a walk with her but he can't. He's trying to stay happy in himself and he does wag his tail when we visit him," Heather said.
"He is Bonnie's big protector and she hates being home alone. She misses him and looks out of the window a lot."
Heather is still mourning the loss of her 13-year-old boxer Dudley, who only passed away last year.
She added: "It's so raw going through this again. One of the reasons I was happy having puppies was because I wouldn't have to go through any loss for a while."
If you would like to donate towards Heather's fundraiser, please visit her GoFundMe page.
Do you have a dog story to share? Email nia.dalton@reachplc.com.
