Mother tells children Christmas ‘is cancelled’ as she’s hit with £8,317 vet bill

A devastated mother has told her two sons that Christmas will be quieter this year after being landed with a £8,317 vet’s bill when the family’s Staffordshire Bull terrier was diagnosed with bone cancer.

Joely Eaton, 29, took the difficult decision to amputate her beloved dog Buddy’s leg after he was diagnosed with osteosarcoma, a type of bone cancer.

The cleaning business owner said: ‘I couldn’t have put him to sleep, he’s like another child to me.’

Ms Eaton, from Sale, Manchester, was given Buddy for her 21st birthday, with her own mother owning his mother and father.

She is now planning to spend barely anything on festivities this year, relying on a credit card to buy her sons Ollie, seven, and Jaeden, 10, a few inexpensive items from their Christmas lists.

Joely Eaton, 29, took the difficult decision to amputate her beloved dog Buddy’s leg after he was diagnosed with osteosarcoma, a type of bone cancer

Ms Eaton, from Sale, Manchester, was given Buddy for her 21st birthday, with her own mother owning his mother and father

Ms Eaton will forgo a normal big family Christmas blow-out for a quiet day with the boys, Buddy, and their seven-month-old French bulldog Spencer.

The 29-year-old said that she initially thought Buddy had hurt his front left leg jumping over the fence to greet her neighbour.

She said: ‘We had a scan in October as he was limping, and he was there all day. He is a daft dog so I thought he had jumped off the fence funny.

‘The vet said it was probably arthritis due to his age and gave him some anti-inflammatory medication.’

But after two weeks he had stopped putting weight onto that leg completely, resulting in another trip to the vet.

Ms Eaton said: ‘The vet told me the worst case scenario can be a bone tumour, but of course I didn’t think it was.

‘Then he rang me just as I was getting ready to get the boys from school and just said ‘It’s not good news, it’s a bone tumour.’

‘He didn’t even bring him round from the sedation, he asked me if I wanted to put him to sleep now and said that, if not, I would have about two weeks with him.

‘I was just like “no”. The boys couldn’t come with me to drop the dog off and then not pick him up. I told him I would come and bring him home.’

Trying not to worry her boys, she told them the beloved family dog had a ‘bad leg’.

Ms Eaton said she doesn’t know how her oldest son Jaeden will take it if Buddy is put down.

Instead, she sought a second opinion from a different vet who recommended she see a specialist.

She travelled 40 miles to a practice in Liverpool so Buddy could undergo a CT scan, where medics discovered the cancer had not spread to Buddy’s lungs.

The 29-year-old said that she initially thought Buddy had hurt his front left leg jumping over the fence to greet her neighbour

But it was recommended he undergo a costly operation to amputate the cancerous leg, plus six rounds of chemotherapy — at almost £700 a go.

The pup may only live for another 18-months, although Ms Eaton is trying a raft of home remedies to help give him the longest and best quality of life that she can.

She said he is recovering well from surgery to remove the leg and is up to his old tricks with Spencer, even though vets said that the chemo might make him unwell.

Ms Eaton said: ‘I just told them to do it, I don’t care. As long as he is with us, I don’t care.

‘The entire invoice came to £4,299 for the CT scan and the surgery, plus each round of chemo is going to cost £669.68.

‘I just said to the boys Christmas is not going to be as good as it is every other year.

‘I’m kind of relying on everyone else, which feels really nasty. But my mum will give them money and my grandparents will go all-out.’

Ms Eaton said she doesn’t know how her oldest son Jaeden will take it if Buddy is put down

Ms Eaton has managed to pay off almost all of the initial vet bill, but is faced with tri-weekly chemotherapy costs plus £1,100 worth of debt from the surgery and the CT scan. Pictured, Buddy after the amputation 

Ms Eaton has agreed to skip gift-giving this year with her siblings and boyfriend, and asked her grandad to give her her Christmas money early.

Her family members have also organised a GoFundMe to try and help.

She added: ‘I really hate asking for help, but this is just reality at the moment for us.

‘With the whole cost of living crisis, a vet bill to pay as well as his chemo to pay on top of that — and it is Christmas.

‘The boys took it well. My seven-year-old had his birthday recently so he’s not really bothered about Christmas, he’s one of those dead easy, relaxed kids.

‘I just said to them “we’ve got Buddy, and that’s all that matters this Christmas”.

‘And Jaeden is so close with Buddy, I think he just doesn’t care.’

Ms Eaton has managed to pay off almost all of the initial vet bill, but is faced with tri-weekly chemotherapy costs plus £1,100 worth of debt from the surgery and the CT scan.