Woman sells home to save dog

موضوع: Woman sells home to save dog 27/5/2012, 5:41 am

Tanya Hoberg sold her home to pay for
life-saving surgery and post-operative
care for her beloved dog Pepsy.

Woman sells home to save dog

HERVEY Bay woman Tanya Hoberg sold her home to pay for life-saving surgery and post-operative care for her beloved dog Pepsy.

Ms Hoberg did not think twice about sacrificing her share of the great Australian dream.

When she learned of her dogs potentially fatal illness three months ago, her home went on the market.

When it failed to sell, she proved that love conquers all by slicing thousands of dollars of its value to get the funds in time to save her her pooch.

She gave up her home to move in to a rental home with Pepsy and her two other dogs.

But she has no regrets about putting her life savings on the line to drag Pepsy back from the brink.

“I just love her to bits,” she said. “She’s more important to me than anything else,” she said.

Ms Hoberg also spent months raising money for the $4500 surgery after finding out about Pepsy’s condition only a few weeks after buying her.

She set up website www.savepepsyfund.com and blogged about Pepsy’s journey to gain enough weight to go under the knife.

The six-month-old puppy was diagnosed three months ago with patent ductus arteriosus (PDA).

PDA is the most common congenital heart defect in small dogs and occurs when a blood vessel connecting two main arteries fails to close after birth, pushing extra volumes of blood through the lungs.

Pepsy weighed less than 4kg when she was diagnosed, but her heart had swollen to that of a 10kg dog.

She will be able to go home today after surgery in Brisbane that was performed by veterinary surgeon Dr Brad Gavaghan.

The lively puppy was given the all-clear on Wednesday after an ultrasound confirmed her heart had shrunk.

A dog heart medication manufacturer donated boxes of medication and Pedigree donated a puppy care pack after hearing about Ms Hoberg’s cause.

Ms Hoberg hit back at people who told her to have Pepsy put down, including the veterinarian who originally detected Pepsy’s irregular heartbeat.

“Even if the outcome was not as we had hoped, I would still make the same decision for surgery,” she said.

“People need to realise that a pet is for life and not just a toy.”