Northampton family who rescued neighbour's dog after owner died appealing for help to pay vet bills for cancer treatment

A family who rescued their neighbour’s dog after he died are desperately trying to raise the funds needed for an operation to eliminate the pooch's cancer.

Sasha, who is thought to be six or seven, has been living with Shelley Clark and her family in The Mounts since her previous owner died in August last year.

The Staffordshire bull-terrier was a scrap eater as she was fed from bins, was allowed to roam free and was never on a lead and, according to Shelley, had a bad temperament.

Since living with her new owners, Sasha now loves being with Shelley’s children, is proud to walk on a lead and has even started eating dog food.

But vets have discovered life-threatening cancer, which they believe Sasha may have had for years.

Shelley is now trying to raise the money needed to pay for the vital surgery.

The 34-year-old care worker said: “Two or three weeks before Sasha’s owner died, he asked me to look after Sasha if anything ever happened to him.

“I said ‘of course I will’ thinking nothing will happen, but then he passed away and I’m sure if the dog was taken away she would have been destroyed.

“She was not a nice dog and I didn’t like her at all, but she has changed so much now and she likes to be loved.

“My kids didn’t like her much before, but they have come to love her now. She wags her tail and she always barks at them when they start arguing to tell them to stop. She puts them in their place.

“She goes on the lead now and is proud to. She has even started eating dog food if we feed it to her by hand.

“Everyone down the street tells us how much she has changed since she has been living with us.”

Despite the positive change, health problems became apparent when Sasha ran down the stairs too fast and ripped her toenail off.

Shelley took her to the vets where she was given her injections as her previous owners, including an abusive home before Shelley’s neighbour, had not organised for this to happen.

Lumps were also found in her mammary glands and vets discovered she had not been spayed.

Shelley added: “The cancer has taken over the whole of her right mammary gland so that needs to be operated on.

“She has had low hanging teats for a long time and the vets have said it may have been cancer all along.

“Also if we don’t get her spayed, her womb may become infected as she will not have pups at this age.”

Including scans to see if the cancer has spread, the estimated cost of treatments is more than £1,300.

The family is asking for help from the community to come up with the funds, which will hopefully help Sasha to keep living the improved life she has finally found.

“It would mean everything to us if we can raise this money,” Shelley continued.

“She deserves so much more than she has had in her life. She really has had a rubbish life.”

To donate to Sasha’s treatment fund, visit the family’s GoFundMe page here.

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