East Calder family launch urgent fundraiser to save their five-year-old French bulldog after devastating diagnosis
Nacho’s emergency surgery will cost £10,000 or the family’s dog is at risk of being put to sleep
A West Lothian family has launched an urgent £10,000 fundraising appeal to save their French bulldog from being put to sleep after he was struck by a crippling spinal disease.
Kendall McGuire, 26 from East Calder, first became concerned about five-year-old Nacho earlier this month, when he began displaying unusual behaviour at home.
Kendall said: “I came home from work and he was a bit shaky and he was like leaning against me. I felt him vibrating, like trembling.
“If you know anything about French bulldogs, they're inherently dramatic beasts. For example, he has got a tendency to drink loads of water to make himself sick and then sit and whine about it so you automatically jump to that assumption that it's that because he genuinely does do that about five or six times a week. So I sort of didn’t think much of it.”
Kendall and her partner Hayden, 29, have housed Nacho for the past two years after the couple took on the dog from Hayden’s ex-partner. They also have an 11-month-old girl named Amelia, a seven-year-old Rottweiler named Bella and share Hayden’s four-year-old so Luca with his ex-partner.
Kendall and Hayden initially give Nacho some painkillers following his first injury but they become more concerned when his symptoms worsened over the next few days
She said: “I noticed as the days went on, he was sitting with his paw curled up. I know now they call it knuckling.
“It’s when they won’t put their paws on the ground. He’s essentially trying to balance on his wrist with his paw curled up, and that’s just not normal.”
Kendall then took Nacho to the vet, where she was told that Nacho likely had Intervertebral disc disease (IVDD) and would be eligible for medical management of the condition.
IVDD is a spinal condition in dogs where discs between the vertebrae of the animal bulge or burst, which can then press on the spinal cord and cause pain, nerve damage, neurological problems and even possible paralysis.
The situation became even more desperate when Nacho’s condition deteriorated further.
Kendall said: “That appointment was on the Friday, and by the Saturday I had noticed that as he attempted to stand up, he crashed, fell and smacked his face off the water bowl then off the side of the cage.
“It was horrendous. He was trembling and lying on his side.”
After returning to the vets, Kendall was then hit with news that emergency surgery to fix the issue would cost the family around £10,000.
Certain breeds of dogs are predisposed to the condition, including French bulldog, which means that Kendall and Hayden’s pet insurance doesn’t cover Nacho’s medical care for IVDD.
Kendall added: “I got told there and then on that day that unless we could fund the emergency surgery, it would be a case of putting him to sleep. All I could think was ‘are you joking?’
“He's five years old, these dogs generally live till they're about 12, and I just thought that's like actually the worst thing I've ever heard in my life.”
After deciding to fight and try to save Nacho, Kendall and Hayden launched an urgent GoFundMe fundraiser to help raise money for the French bulldog’s emergency surgery.
They have also been broadcasting their plea on social media, including sharing videos on TikTok and Instagram.
Self-confessed animal lover Kendall said: “I've always been around animals. They are genuinely so important to me. They've always been my one constant in life.”
She added: “It would mean absolutely everything and more for Nacho to get the surgery. He isn’t just a dog, he is our family.
“I've also had people messaging me saying they've phoned their insurers and increased their policy massively to make sure they're covered. It means a lot to me that potentially there's other dogs that have potentially been saved by raising awareness of IVDD.”