Podge, our Greyhound, has a poorly gut! 🐾

Aim

Our beautiful ex-racer, Podge, is currently hospitalised with severe gastroenteritis. His bills may reach £9000, please help if you can! ❤️

We adopted our lovely boy, Podge (formerly Patrick!) from Daybreaks Trust in Birmingham last November. After losing both of my parents within a year of each other, Podge was the perfect thing to pour all of my love into. He is an incredibly sweet, silly and friendly dog ~ who lived the first five years of his life racing for sport. He had never been in a home, he had never experienced real affection, and had never eaten sausages! All of that obviously changed, and he has changed our lives for the better.

Unfortunately, earlier this month, Podge started experiencing symptoms of a gastrointestinal disease. He began vomiting excessively, had chronic and bloody diarrhoea, and refused all food. We immediately took him to our local veterinary practice, where he began a variety of treatments ~ all of which helped narrow down his diagnosis, but not much more than that. In-between different attempts of treatment, we would have small wins, and he was still the lovely boy we have grown to love and adore. However, he soon became a weaker version of himself. He has gone from 35kg to 23kg, but after a previous overnight hospitalisation, where a feeding tube had to be fitted and an abdominal ultrasound was completed, he came home! He showed promising signs of improvement, but some things stayed the same, and a few symptoms got worse. Therefore, disappointingly, he had to return back to hospital on Sunday, where he has been since. Fortunately, we are finally getting to the light at the end of the tunnel! He's had an endoscopy, many tests, and biopsies sent off, and although another temporary feeding tube had to be fitted ~ the brilliant team who has been looking after him are finally starting to piece the puzzle together. He's had the all clear to begin a treatment plan of corticosteroids to heal his gut, and help him actually start to digest food again. This, fingers crossed, means that soon ~ he will hopefully start to feel tons better, and begin to gain his weight back (and reclaim his nickname of Podge!). ❤️

As you can imagine, the cost of almost a full month of treatment has been incredibly high. From scans, to tests, to medication, we have been given a final bill estimate of between £6000 and £9000. This is purely for his recent hospitalisation, as fortunately our insurance covered his previous visits to our local veterinary practice, but this option has now run dry. It has been an incredibly stressful time, and although we would do anything for our beautiful boy Podge, we must admit that the cost of his treatments have added a huge amount onto this stress. So, we thought we'd ask for help! There is absolutely no pressure to donate, but if you do have some spare pennies ~ you would be helping us, and Podge, immensely. 

As an Illustrator, you can imagine Podge is a wonderful source of inspiration. Therefore, as a 'reward' or 'incentive' for your donation, we're offering some 'merchandise' for you to have a piece of Podge in your home. These will be sent if we reach our target!

🐾 Donate £5 or more, and receive a 'Big Stretch' greeting card & envelope! 

🐾 Donate £10 or more, and receive a 'Big Stretch' A5 print.

🐾 Donate £15 or more, and receive a 'Big Stretch' A4 print.

🐾 Donate £20 or more, and receive an A4 print, and a personal & unique photo of Podge, thanking you via a note with your name, and an awkward stare into the camera. (Once he's home, of course!).

Equally, if you'd rather not have a reward, you can simply donate whatever you may have spare. Please know we will be incredibly grateful no matter the number of the donation. 💖

Thank you so much for reading!

Funding method

Keep what you raise – this project will receive all pledges made by 11th August 2026 at 10:19pm