A Lancaster couple were left heartbroken when they discovered their beloved two-year-old dog had contracted a killer disease just from inhaling a grass seed.
Christian Parry and Nicole Hawley from Caton have set up a fundraising page to 'Help Save Ernie'.
Ernie, a Sprocker, has been diagnosed with pyothorax, a serious and potentially fatal infection in his chest cavity.
Pyothorax is the presence of inflammatory fluid or pus within the chest cavity, which is the area between the lungs and the inner walls of the ribs.
The source of the infection is rarely found, with an underlying cause identified in only two-22 per cent of cases.
Most dogs with pyothorax usually display rapid, shallow, open-mouthed breathing that may be painful; as well as depression, lethargy, decreased appetite, and other signs of general illness. Some may suddenly die without any obvious signs of being ill.
Below, Nicole with Ernie.
Draining the infected fluid is essential in treating the condition.
Christian said Ernie was diagnosed with pyothorax "after a lot of trips to the vet and a lot of unfortunate misdiagnoses which has left us down a rabbit hole".
"He’s the most beautiful little soul, loves everyone and everything and we’re just trying to raise anything we can to try fund his life saving surgery," he said.
"We’ve explored every avenue going but this is the only one our vet can recommend which is a specialist hospital.
"Unfortunately the costs are astronomical for this type of thing, and with the only alternative of putting him to sleep we’re doing everything we can to get him treated and back to a happy and healthy little lad."
Christian and Nicole initially took Ernie into the vet for a series of blood tests in February as he’d been very lethargic and not himself.
"They trialed some antibiotics which did help temporarily but unfortunately his lethargy came back and he began to breathe very heavily, and suffer from quite severe anemia, which we were a bit stuck on as he had no obvious cause," said Christian.
"Through sheer trial and error we managed to get an X-ray of his chest which revealed a massive connection of pus in his lungs.
"We were then told that this can happen from them inhaling a grass seed which lodges itself in their lungs and starts to cause a whole host of reactions from the body, including the growth of abscesses, pus and inflammation in pretty important areas.
"We’d never even thought about the possibility of this, and the fact it has happened from him having a great time running around in the local fields breaks our hearts.
"There is a surgery which we have paid for, and Ernie is in recovery for right now, which removes the foreign body, abscess and fluid and should hopefully, everything crossed, mean our gorgeous little lad has a happy and healthy life to come.
"But this is extremely specialist and so is costing a lot of money, which unfortunately we don’t really have."
The fundraising page can be found HERE and has so far raised more than £1500 towards a target of £7000.
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