Six-year-old Cooper needed extensive surgery after the unprovoked attack (Picture: Nikki Powell)
A couple have been left with a £20,000 vet bill their insurance won’t cover after their cockapoo was savaged by another dog.
Nikki Powelll, from Brynmawr, said six-year-old Cooper’s neck was ripped open and his jaw was severed during the unprovoked attack earlier this month.
Her 79-year-old father had been walking Cooper in a quiet lane near his home and said a large bull terrier cross left to roam the street freely set upon the smaller dog and ‘locked on’ to his neck.
It took four men to prise open the jaws of the large dog wide enough to rescue Cooper, who may also need to be castrated due to severe injuries to his groin.
The cockapoo had to be driven 80 miles to a veterinary hospital in Swindon, where vets were ‘shocked’ by the extent of his injuries.
‘He had a four-hour surgery to treat his neck and body wounds and other injuries with the emergency team and was then passed to the dentistry team the following day for a six-hour operation to wire his jaw back together, bridge it and to treat all the soft tissue damage.
‘It was touch and go if he would make it through another operation but thankfully, he did.
‘He remained in ITU there for a further five days to recover from his surgery.’
Cooper’s state was ‘touch and go’ as his family rushed him to an animal hospital 80 miles away (Picture: Nikki Powell)
Cooper’s vet bills have already exceeded the insurance excess and are likely to reach £20,000 (Picture: Nikki Powell)
Despite costing over £65 a month, the pet insurance Nikki and her husband, David James, have for Cooper only covers the first £7,000 of the treatment.
‘At the end of the day, Cooper’s our family. Me and my husband have both been married before and had children before but don’t have any children together so he really is our baby.
‘We made a decision that as long as Cooper had a fighting chance it didn’t matter what the cost implications were, we would find the additional money even if it meant re-mortgaging the house.’
The couple were overjoyed to secure £4,500 from donations through a Gofundme page set up by a family friend but are still £8,500 short.
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