When soon-to-be-married Rick and Linda took their German Pointer puppy for his daily walk one day last summer, little did they know it would cost them their wedding!
The Sun reported that Rick and Linda planned to marry abroad in the sunny climate of Cuba with the date set to May of this year. Both animal lovers, Rick and Linda decided to add to their family, settling upon a German Pointer puppy and named him Eli. One day, Rick, 37, took him for a walk at Elland Wood Bottom near their home in Halifax, West Yorks.
The dog was running about when Rick heard him suddenly yelp in pain. The ex-Mortar Platoon corporal saw a jagged fence end had speared the ten-month-old dog's neck and plunged six inches down inside his chest.
Rick says: "Blood spurted from his body like a fountain and Eli was sobbing and whining. He pulled himself off the fence and staggered about. I laid him down and drew on my 13-year Army and first aid training, put my arms around him and held him tight to apply pressure to try and stem the bleeding from a wound the size of a 50p piece.
"I got a passing walker to pull my phone out and call the vet. They arranged for Eli to be rushed there by the Yorkshire Animal Ambulance."
The vet told them: "You can either have Eli put down or I can try and save his life. There is no guarantee he will survive or recover from the operation and it will cost you a lot of money."
But Linda and Rick, who thought of Eli as their baby, did not need ten minutes. They looked at each other and straight away agreed to sacrifice their big day.
Eli went into shock and had to be given fluids. X-rays costing £200 a shot and a £1,200 CAT scan showed the stake had narrowly missed his throat but had damaged his lungs and heart.
"The costs were beginning to mount but we had pet insurance - though only up to £4,000. I thought that would be enough," says Linda.
"But that was nearly used up already. It took 48 hours to stabilise Eli and the vet then said the tests showed there was debris - bits of fencing, grass and twigs in his body. For Eli to survive, he needed to be operated on at a cost of cost £3,000."
Eli then underwent a three-hour operation and then had to spend a further four days recovering at the vet's and be given painkillers, each lot costing up to £60.
"The day after he was operated on, we were due to go on a £600 holiday to Cornwall but cancelled that to look after him," says Rick.
"We collected him the Tuesday - a week after his accident. Eli came home but had to go back for daily check-ups at £30 a go and it cost £120 to have his stitches removed and a further £110 for the pet ambulance."
But after a week at home, Eli relapsed and began bleeding from his nose. He was rushed back to the vets where they did another £1,200 scan and a biopsy.
Thankfully, Eli bounced back and is now in good health.
Rick, now an NVQ assessor, says: "That cost us another £1,600. Our bank account was well and truly emptied - we had no change from £10,000, including the insurance money."
Linda says: "Our friends who don't have pets think we are crackers. But our pals who have pets know exactly why we did it."
"It was worth every penny. We get so much pleasure from Eli. He is our baby. We are saving again now and hope to get wed in 2012. We hope to get to Cuba to do it."
"We've not once regretted shelling out for Eli. He's worth it!"
So, pet insurance could save the day when you least expect it! Ensure you have selected a decent level of cover for all eventualities - visit us at www.epetinsurance.co.uk for your quote today!
You can read the full article as featured in The Sun here.
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