A VET in Cirencester rescued a heavily pregnant dog after performing life-saving surgery to avoid having her put to sleep.

Martina Eyre-Brook, Vets4Pets practice owner and senior veterinary surgeon, adopted the four-year-old Jack Russell Terrier after performing emergency surgery and a C-section.

“Her owners rang up just before closing time 16 days ago,” Martina told the Standard on Monday. “They said something was wrong but they had no money to pay for treatment.

“We agreed to see the dog and found that she had a severely prolapsed vagina and was suffering from birth complications. She was heavily pregnant.

“It was a life-saving operation.”

She said the dog, which she named Dobby, was malnourished and the owners could not afford to pay for treatment, with the only other option to have her put to sleep.

“We refused to do that,” Martina said. “We would not have done that anyway.”

Martina said she persuaded the owners to sign over the dog to the practice, with the operation costs – totalling £1,500 – paid for by staff.

While Martina worked to save Dobby, her team were able to rescue one of her six puppies.

“They worked for one-and-a-half hours to try to resuscitate the puppies,” she said. “We drafted in help from Pets at Home and the Groom Room, but were unable to save them all.”

The surviving puppy was named Poppy as she was born on Remembrance weekend.

She was bottle-fed every two hours by head nurse Cindy Turner as Dobby was too weak and was not producing milk.

“At that point we were not even sure if she [Dobby] was going to make it,” said Martina.

Poppy was adopted by Cindy, who changed her name to Moina.

Martina said both dogs, who are now in perfect health, have “stolen our hearts”, with Dobby having moved in with her and her family, including Bear, her fox red Labrador, and rescue cats and guinea pigs.

“She didn’t know how to play, she was very shy,” said Martina.

“But now you can see the change in her. She has come out of her shell.”