The owner of a puppy who was injured after being allegedly thrown over a fence have called for a pet-friendly MRI machine to be set up in the north-east.
Michelle Mackie found her four-month-old Yorkshire terrier, Kai, seriously injured in a neighbour’s garden in the Queen Street area of Peterhead on Sunday.
The pup suffered a fractured skull after being found on the opposite side of a 6ft wall between Ms Mackie’s garden and a neighbour’s house.
On Monday, they travelled to Glasgow to get potentially life-saving treatment at the city’s animal hospital, with friends and supporters in Peterhead donating money to cover the pup’s medical bills.
Now Ms Mackie says she wants to give something back to fellow pet owners once Kai has recovered and use any leftover money to kickstart a fundraiser to buy a MRI scanner for the area.
She said: “Glasgow and Edinburgh are the two places for an MRI – there’s nothing up in the north of Scotland. If I had held off and waited a couple of days, potentially, Kai wouldn’t be here.
“I have had a Visa card, the car and the insurance, but I imagine there’s a lot of people who have had to make difficult choices because those options weren’t available to them.
“It’s a resource that’s needed, even if it’s just setting up a fund so that there’s money sitting there for people in similar situations.”
She added that Kai had a “reasonable night” at the hospital, but that vets would soon have to force-feed the pup in an effort to improve his condition.
She added: “They tried this morning to see if he’ll eat anything, but unfortunately it’s not proving to be successful. The fracture goes right down into his nasal cavity, so he’s on antibiotics to prevent any infection coming up and into his brain and they don’t want to upset him too much.
“He’s not eaten coming up to 48 hours now. Hopefully, once he starts eating we might see a little bit of an improvement.”
She described the support shown to Kai – which will go some way in helping to cover an estimated bill of £4,000 – as “overwhelming”.
On Monday, a 20-year-old man was due to appear at Peterhead Sheriff Court after being charged with the attack on Kai, but was set free before he took his seat in the dock.
His case is still under the consideration of the Procurator Fiscal.