Woman sells car to be able to pay £17.5k for dog's surgery

A woman from Wareham, Dorset, sold her car and took money out of her inheritance just to save her beloved dog's life.

Jac Williams had gone to the vet for a regular check-up when her dog was diagnosed with mitral valve disease in 2020.

Her dog, Louie, needed urgent surgery which was quite expensive. And Williams was not one to give up. She sold her Nissan Qashqai for around £15k to pay for the surgery.

"The operation itself, without all the scans, was £17,500. Although it was an awful lot of money, I thought I owed it to him," The Mirror quoted her as saying.

"This is a relatively new procedure. If it had been 10 years ago, he would have just been given drugs right up until the end and it's a horrible death. It's a horrible disease, you don't see it coming. It's a degenerative heart thing and the dogs end up going into heart failure which is awful," she added.

Louie underwent a mitral valve repair at the Royal Veterinary College in London. The operation took almost four hours, but it was a success.

"He's such a sweet little dog, I love him to bits. He had the surgery and he's done absolutely amazingly. He's just a little superstar!" He had to spend two days in intensive care and was allowed to leave the hospital after a week of recovery.

"I know it's a lot of money, but at the end of the day, if you love your dog that much, at least there's an option."' Thanks to Williams, Louis is now perfectly healthy.

She said: "The week before he went in for his surgery, there was a massive deterioration."

"His breathing was bad, and when I handed him over, I really didn't expect to be getting him back again. "I knew the surgery was his only chance. I didn't think he would come home," added Williams, who is now happy to have her beloved pet back.