Letters

Hi,

We adopted Chester in 2007 from yourselves (he was ‘Winchester’ then - male Sprocker), I genuinely cannot recall the requirements of the contract.

We regrettably elected to have him put to sleep (well, not woken up) last December after he became ill and could not be successfully operated on. He suddenly showed signs of discomfort one Friday evening, but tests on the Saturday were not conclusive. An ultrasound scan on the Monday showed a blockage in his gut. In operating the vet found a tumour. We decided to have the tumour removed and then have him treated, but as the vet got deeper in, she found many more tumours knitted into the wall of his gut and basically informed us it would be impossible to remove them all. Chester died on that day, 23 December 2024; he had shown signs of distress only on the night of 20 December, so it was all very quick. Up to then, he had been fit and healthy - admittedly, he had some arthritis for which we were paying for laser treatment and hydrotherapy (and which was doing a lot of good.) But to all intents and purposes, he was a healthy twelve year old, right up to that Friday evening.

Chester was a very anxious chap, but we helped him navigate the world as best we could. He loved hiking and completed all 214 Wainwrights (hills) in the Lake District.

Ian Price