A Story of Courage and Hope ❤️‍🩹

One of our clients recently shared Milly’s story with us — and we asked for permission to share it with you.

Milly, a 12-year-old Greyhound cross, was attacked during an afternoon walk. It was a traumatic, heartbreaking experience for her family — and for us as a team reading the updates. Every single one of us at Cat&Dogsure rooted for Milly through her recovery.

While her journey isn’t over yet, we’re incredibly grateful she’s made it this far.

We are so thankful we could stand alongside Milly and her family during this time. 💚

Below, Milly’s story in her mom, Colleen’s, own words.

⚠️ Trigger Warning: The post below contains a graphic image related to Milly’s injuries.

During an afternoon walk at the end of last year two Rottweilers escaped from their yard and attacked Milly our 12-year old Greyhound cross.

Amid the horror of this terrible incident there has been a huge silver lining which has come in the form of Cat&Dogsure – and yes this is an unashamed punt for the company as we have received service which is rare in our country. And I believe such service deserves to be highlighted and talked about.

Over my nearly four score years on this planet I have gained an impression – rightly or wrongly – that many insurance companies look for reasons not to pay claims. Cat&Dogsure have been the opposite, they seem to look for good reasons to pay! Not only were Brent and Aisha efficient and professional in their dealings with us they were kind and sympathetic. They contacted us regularly to find out how Milly was doing and whether or not we were getting the required standard of service from our vet.

Milly’s injuries were horrific and her heroic and stoic struggle to recover has been emotionally draining and stressful to watch. While she has recovered well from the actual dog bites she will never be the same again and is still seriously hampered by an injury as yet not diagnosed.

And it’s this injury which has required extensive and costly investigation.

At first, our vet thought the intermittent paralysis in Milly’s back legs and excruciating pain she was demonstrating were due to the aggravation of existing spondylosis in her spine particularly as some of the worst bites were near her tail where the disintegration of the discs between her vertebrae is at its worst. I must include here that this was a pre-condition on our policy as Milly already had the condition when we rescued her in 2017. We thought that any medical treatment linked to the condition would not be covered by our policy.

But, there is also a clause in our policy – which we weren’t aware of, forgotten about – which allows for treatment for an incident such as this up to a ceiling of R30 000. When Aisha told us this news the relief was overwhelming – it was the difference between having Milly euthanised or continuing to fight for her full recovery.

After his conclusions our vet recommended a CT scan and surgery which saw us heading off to consult with a specialist surgeon. The surgeon however, was not convinced at the initial diagnosis and ordered an MRI scan (much more expensive than the CT scan), but no serious damage was found. Now the diagnosis is the possibility of serious groin strain which in her breed is not uncommon but can take up to a year to heal.

Our dog was once happy, confident and well-socialised, but no more. She is now in pain, timid, anxious and terrified of other dogs regardless of their size or attitude. Yes, we did sue the owner of the dogs and did receive compensation but it is now my contention that owners of vicious or aggressive dogs are no different from those who leave a loaded firearm unattended. I thought I would feel better when the owners’ payout dropped into my account – I didn’t!

Our vet bills have been enormous – but Cat&Dogsure have with kindness and professionalism stood by and continue to help us and we could not be more grateful. Our Mips is not out of the woods yet, but at least we know with our medical insurance we have options. Thank you so much Brent and Aisha.

Greg Dardagan
Hillcrest, KZN