Faith is about 5 years old, she was abandoned in a house for 3 months here in Spain she was surviving on a few biscuits that a neighbour was able to give her through a hole in the gate. We rescued her in May this year, she was terrified, thin and covered in tics. Since then we have managed to rebuild her trust, encourage her to eat and have also had her cured of heartworm.
She is such a beautiful girl but tragically, after everything she has been through, we have now discovered that she needs a left hip replacement, the hip is worn away completely and there is no other treatment for her. We have to have this operation done by about January at a specialist vets near Alicante .
We will be doing lots of fundraising events for her over the next couple of months starting with getting our heads shaved on the 20th of this month. We will not give up on her now so please support us in Saving Faith.
Lisa and Lesley. (Torrevieja)
http://www.gofundme.com/4npk00
If you can think of how else to raise funds let Lisa know, she can be reached on 693 041 890
This is the bigger picture of Faith´s story, as told by Lisa ...........................
"May 16th this year a friend took me to see a dog that had been abandoned for 3 months in a garden, the owner had been coming back occasionally to feed her but it just wasn't good enough ..I peered through a small gap in the fence and there she was, a beautiful alsation cross, thin, terrified and full of tics. The garden was a mess and the smell was horrendous.
I hadn't planned on having another dog after losing my last dog 6 years before, but I just couldn't walk away, I got her out of there and took her home. That day I took her to San Anton in Guardamar they treated her for tics and fleas but also found a microchip, why had someone bothered to have a microchip and then treat her in such a cruel way ?????
After a few days the owner was found and they made it perfectly clear that they did not want the dog and signed her over to me ...now she was ours in her forever home ....We called her Faith....The first few days were awful, she wasn't used to eating much so she had to be coaxed into eating small amounts , it was also obvious that she had been beaten, even the raising of hands while talking terrified her.
So now we start and get things done, we make an appointment for vaccines and a health check ...she had heartworm ....ok so we can deal with that, there is treatment she is only about 5 years old and can be cured...2 weeks later she has her first injection to kill the heartworm, she reacts very badly and collapses , she just happens to be the 1 in a 1000 that could have this reaction, but with good veterinary care and lots of love she comes through it and a few weeks later another blood test shows negative to heartworm ...fantastic news...
This poor frightened girl is getting better and is starting to trust people, she loves children and people, putting on weight and starting to love life ....
I took her to be spayed , I had already discussed with the vet that there may be a hip or leg problem as she does not like walking for long periods of time...the vet said an xray was necessary.....The news was devastating ..Faith's right hip is ok (ish) but her left hip is completely gone, the only treatment is a hip replacement !!! Faith is 5 years old and in just a few months her whole life has been transformed, she is no longer the terrified girl that she was, she is now a lovely dog with such a good life ...I will not give up on her !!
So the hip replacement is very expensive ... around 1,500€ ... and needs to be done early January, myself and my partner are going to be doing fund raising, this is where the fun starts, on 20th of this month we will both get our heads shaved, we will get as much sponsorship as we can, we will also do a sponsored walk from Torrevieja to Guardamar in November, and we have many other ideas , we just won't give up on her."