Retired Humberside Police dog Neo recovers after charity funds life-saving surgery

Neo
-Credit: (Image: The Thin Blue Paw Foundation)


A police dog who required life-saving surgery is now recovering at home, thanks to a charity that stepped in to cover the costs of his emergency operation.

Retired Police Dog (RPD) Neo, nine, who served with Humberside Police and was adopted by a fellow officer upon retirement, needed urgent life-saving surgery earlier this month after falling ill very rapidly.

The Thin Blue Paw Foundation, a charity supporting working and retired police dogs, stepped in to foot the £4,000 bill.

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Neo's owner, Rob James, adopted the German Shepherd in 2018 when he retired at the age of four. As a police officer, he'd worked alongside him and wanted to give him a retirement home.

Rob, from Hornsea in East Yorkshire, said: "Neo was handled by one of my best friends, Steve, and I was a firearms officer at the time so I'd often seen them out on deployments when they were supporting our team."

"I knew Neo had been a successful and formidable working dog and felt my lifestyle would suit him well. I've kept German shepherds since the age of 12 and had lost one of my dogs just a few years earlier," he added.

"Neo loves living in the countryside so he gets long walks and there are lots of places he can swim. I now live by the seaside and he absolutely loves going to the beach, he plays like a puppy! "

Neo lives with Rob, his girlfriend, his children and their other dogs.

Rob was working in September when his partner called him to say Neo was making strange noises and that his stomach was hard and he was trying but struggling to be sick.

“I was a fair distance from my home address and was about to start searching a property with my specialist police dog,” Rob said. “A quick call to a supervisor cleared me from the incident and I immediately made a call to my friend, who lives in the same village as me, and he agreed to drive Neo to the vets where I met them late at night."

Rob also reached out to the Thin Blue Paw Foundation. While he was on his way to the vets, one of the trustees contacted him to say the charity would assist if possible.

The vets saw Neo urgently and confirmed he was suffering from gastric torsion - a condition where the stomach twists and fills with gas or fluid. He needed immediate surgery to save his life, and they agreed to cover the costs of Neo's treatment.

“To my astonishment, the charity said it would step in and, in doing so, saved Neo’s life. Never have I seen such kindness and felt such relief – I'm still beyond words.

“Neo is doing really well after his surgery. I find myself thinking a lot about how life might have turned out if the Foundation hadn’t stepped in to help with the costs of this surgery – I'm so pleased he’s been given a chance.

“I can’t thank the Thin Blue Paw enough for what it’s done for Neo and for our family. I will forever be thankful for what you’ve done.”

Thin Blue Paw Foundation trustee, Kieran Stanbridge, said: “We have 400 dogs registered with the charity who we support when they need us, but sometimes there’s an emergency from a dog we don’t know and we feel we need to step in to help save their life.

“Poor Neo was seriously ill when Rob called us on the way to the vets and he wasn’t sure how he’d cover the costs of the emergency treatment. We knew we needed to help and we agreed to cover the full costs.

“We’re so pleased we were able to step in at Neo and Rob’s time of need, and that Neo is now back at home with his family recovering well.”