Fraggle Rocks

Meet Fraggle: she's a street puppy from Lesvos with a badly broken leg. With your help, we've brought her back to the UK to re-set the bone. But after a post-operative infection, we now we need help to fund a further operation. 

I first saw Fraggle on a Facebook post, and I knew immediately that it was my responsibility to help her.  A friend on holiday on the Greek island of Lesvos had found her in the street - clearly still a puppy, she was limping around with a broken leg, and surviving on beetles. 

Apparently she'd been knocked down by a car a few weeks ago. The local police chief had improvised a splint on her leg. My friend, Tracie, was certain she couldn't last out the winter. She took this video and sent it over: a gentle little dog, still affectionate but clearly in pain. My heart broke. 



We managed to contact a local animal shelter, who agreed to take her in and get her checked over by a vet. Tracie caught her, and drove her to meet Adam and Eva, two extremely kind people who look after stray dogs on the island. They said she was a very special dog, and that they'd do all they could to help her. 

The vet confirmed our worst fears: the fracture in her leg had now partially healed and the bone was absolutely in the wrong place. But there was no orthopaedic surgeon on Lesvos - the nearest one was on the Greek mainland, a day's journey away. It was agreed that it would be better for her to travel here first, and then to get treated.

In the meantime, they removed the painful splint, and she was transformed: a joyful little dog, hopping around on three legs. She's so brave, but that paw looks absolutely awful. 



Life comes at you fast sometimes! A UK charity transported her over here, and we raised £4000 to have a very complex operation on her leg. This involved re-breaking the bone and pinning it back together with a metal plate. It went well. We've loved having Fraggle at home and looking after her - she's an affectionate and laid-back dog, who's adapted incredibly well to family life. We can't imagine life without her now. She now also likes going out on three-legged walks down to see the sea, and has a strange talent for sniffing out mushrooms in the woods (we wonder if she ate them when she was stray). 

However, a week after the operation, Fraggle developed an infection that has been hard to shift. It's likely that the bacteria were already there from her original break, and that the operation has let them take hold. For a few weeks, she was going in to the vet's every day for a dressing change under sedation, because her skin was so raw. With a lot of care and antibiotics, the infection is now under control, but the only way to get rid of it altogether will be to remove the plate and pins when the bone has healed. We were already considering doing this to ensure she has has much mobility in the joint as possible, but now it's essential. The operation will cost £1500. 

We're back to feeling like we've bitten off far more than we can chew. We paid her vets bills and accommodation in Lesvos, and  her travel costs back home, and the brilliant people who donated to this GoFundMe have saved her leg. But now we need to stretch our goal a little further to make sure she can fight off this infection. 

So if you can spare anything, please help us to save this gentle, spirited little girl. Thank you :)