Her new owner crowdfunded THOUSANDS of dollars to pay to get her well again!!
A dog who lost a part of her nose thanks to abuse at the hands of Chinese meat traders underwent life-changing facial reconstruction surgery after her owner crowdfunded £4,500 for treatment.
The Belgian sheepdog, called Angel, was rescued in 2015 from Changchun, China, when activists seized a truckload of dogs destined for the slaughterhouse. The six-year-old dog had emergency surgery in Beijing before the Rushton Dog Rescue flew her to England for adoption.
Hollie Cornes, 25, from Witney, Oxfordshire, who is now Angel's owner, later launched a GoFundMe campaign to buy the pooch's facial plastic surgery that has been funded by the dog's 30,000 Instagram followers. Hollie said the rescuers attributed the pooch's 'horrific' facial injuries to the metal tools employed by dog catchers to seize hold of pets and haul them unwillingly over walls. Angel had learnt to deal with her injuries, but the skin around her nose would frequently bleed and she or he often struggled to breathe.
Hollie, who found out an Instagram page for Angel, which now boasts quite 30,000 followers, decided to contact world-renowned vet specialists Fitzpatrick Referrals to find out if they might help. She was told she would wish to hand over £2,500 to fund a CT scan to diagnose the severity of Angel's ailments.
But the sum was paid by one among Angel's generous social media followers and therefore, the results revealed her 'nose' was sealed with connective tissue and she or he only had a 2mm hole to breathe through. Hollie, who describes Angel because the 'sweetest dog she's ever come across', then decided to launch a GoFundMe campaign to buy the pooch's facial plastic surgery .
Hollie, who set the target at £4,500, said: 'We raised the cash really quickly, which I never expected. 'Without the fundraising and her network, it wouldn't are an option... 'She's got numerous folks that love and care about her [on social media] - it had been only due to that that I assumed it might be possible to boost that quantity of cash .
'We were told her initial CT scan would be £2,500 and one lady on Instagram sent the cash immediately - which was incredible. 'I personally think this surgery has been life-changing for her. 'I didn't want to place her through any longer stress and surgery - none of this was for aesthetic reasons, I loved the way she looked before - it had been purely supported her quality of life.' Hollie said that the injuries Angel had sustained whilst she was around two years old in China meant that she would hear her awakened in the night struggling to breathe.
She contacted oncology and soft tissue experts at Christmas time and a CT scan was booked for January 4, which revealed that extent of the interior damage. Hollie said: 'From watching pictures of her she has half a nose, which I always assumed was the side that she could breathe through because aesthetically that appeared just like the normal side. 'They found that behind her nose was completely sealed over connective tissue, so she wasn't breathing through that side of the nose in the least, but a 2mm hole the opposite side. 'As soon as we acknowledged she was breathing through that tiny hole - it [surgery] was a no brainer. 'Even if we will make that hole a touch bigger, so she will breathe easier it's getting to improve her quality of her life.' The GoFundMe page hit the target in only four days and Angel underwent surgery the subsequent week. The military dog handler said the procedure involved reconstructing Angel's face so her previously-exposed mouth is now protected and so the hole she breathes through was made larger. Angel had a troublesome start in life as she was rescued from the dog meat trade and Hollie said she appeared during a video of dogs being transported to a slaughterhouse that went viral. Hollie said: 'It with great care happened that they'd [Rushton Dog Rescue] rescued this breed that I'd always wanted, I found her and thought it had been fate - I had to re-home this dog.
 |
'I read more and checked out her pictures from before she was first rescued, and that i suppose I wanted to bring this dog home even more to offer her the life she'd never had. 'She ran straight up to us across the sector , we bought our other dog with us and that they got on immediately - as soon as I saw her I knew I had to need her home with me. 'She's the sweetest dog that I've ever have - and that I have different dogs a day .'