A disabled puppy has learned to walk for the first time in her life after receiving ground-breaking surgery.
Once forced to drag her back legs along the floor like a seal, Cavapoo Daisy Brothwell now bounds across the room thanks to a pioneering operation by a Cambridgeshire vet.
Nicknamed the mermaid puppy, Daisy was born with severely deformed back legs and was unable to bear her weight or walk.
Her breeder took her to the vets to be put down but a veterinary nurse introduced her to adoptive parents Paul and Debbie Brothwell from Orwell – and the family, including daughters Sophie, Sarah and Lucy, have been smitten with the cute pup ever since.
Last month mum Debbie took Daisy to Queen’s Veterinary School Animal Hospital in Cambridge to see if anything could be done to help her walk.
Debbie said: “I’m not the sort of person to sit back and let things be, so I got a referral.”
It was in the middle of the night that orthopedic surgeon Gareth Arthurs – who Debbie describes as ‘super vet but a lot more modest’ – had a brainwave idea to cure the small puppy by creating knee caps to help her stand straight.
Daisy is so tiny Gareth and another vet used eye tweezers to operate on her.
There was only a 50 per cent chance the surgery would work but now the 14-week-old puppy runs so quickly across the garden Debbie struggles to keep up.
Daughter Lucy said: “Daisy is just amazing. As soon as we saw her we fell in love. It was like she was meant for us.
“She plays such a huge part in our lives. For such a small puppy she is a brilliant character, loud and full of life.
“We just love having her around and bounding around the house all the time. We couldn’t imagine our lives without her.”
Daisy still needs physiotherapy and may need hip surgery later in life but for now is a bouncing happy puppy.
To find out more visit her Facebook page at www.facebook.com/daisynewlegs.
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