Congleton residents Heather Graves and Christopher Barnes have started a GoFundMe page, after finding out their 14-week-old Labrador puppy has a life-threatening condition.

"Over a week she got slowly more sleepy, it was when she was about 13 weeks old she was getting more sleepy, and I was thinking something wasn't quite right," Heather explained.

"We got her like normal when you get a puppy, she was just over eight weeks, completely fine when we got her home, she was doing all the training and doing really well, just a normal puppy."

After noticing she wasn't eating properly, they got a second opinion from Congleton Veterinary Centre, of West Heath Precinct, who noticed a peak in Boo's toxin levels.

"They said basically that they were not sure what is wrong with her, everything looking at her looks fine, but we can tell what you mean, she doesn't have the energy a puppy should have," Heather added.

"They did blood tests and said that her liver doesn't look like its functioning properly, one of the levels I think it was a bio level, and the normal level is like zero to 15 and because she hadn't been eating properly, they should've been low, but it was something like 180."

Boo was then referred onto Pride Veterinary Centre in Derby to undergo further testing, where they discovered she has a rare condition often found in smaller dogs.

Due to her young age and current state Boo will have to undergo an operation to block off the abnormal blood vessels causing her high toxin levels.

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The couple, who live close to West Heath, will have to wait until the end of March before their puppy can be treated.

Heather said: "She is too young to have the operation straight away, they gave her IV medications to bring her levels down, there were toxins in the liver. They did a CT scan which showed this thing called a liver shunt."

"In most normal puppies, the blood vessels shut automatically at birth and their liver starts working. Basically, her liver hasn't been functioning properly.

"They said that it's a really rare condition anyway, its normally toy sized dogs like Yorkies they're normally the ones that get it."

Already costing the recently engaged couple over £3,000 in vet bills, and going through their insurance policy, they now face a further £7,000 cost to save Boo's life.

Heather explained the reasons behind the price of the procedure:

"They have to make individual sized shunts for that dog and it's a specialist surgeon that's why it's so expensive."

With support from close friends and family, Heather and her fiancé Christopher have been planning fundraising activities to help raise money towards Boo's treatment.

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This is in addition to the crowdfunding page.

"I'm going to baking and making Christmas ornaments," she added.

"My mum is a seamstress so she's making doggy bow ties to sell, and one of my friends at work is helping organise a sponsored dog walk around Christmas."

Boo is back home and being kept stable under medication until she is old enough to proceed with the operation.

"She was a bit traumatised after getting home from the vets, she was crying for the whole day, but she's settled down now and she's doing really well now," Heather also said.

"We got her at the end of September, so we've only had her seven or eight weeks, but it's one of them where you couldn't imagine life without her now."

To support Boo's journey, you can find her GoFundMe page, by clicking this link.

See also: Congleton dog in life-saving cancer crowdfunder

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