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A North East vet has proved that you can mend a broken dog, by performing a life changing operation on a greyhound.

Tino was in his first few weeks of race training when he broke his leg, a break which would normally end any dreams of a running career for his loving owners.

However Tino’s owner, Ralph Smith, called upon the expert help of Malcolm Ness at Croft Vets to work his magic. Malcolm lived up to all expectations and operated on Tino utilising a revolutionary locking plate technique to fix the greyhound’s broken leg.

Mr Smith, from Hadstone near Morpeth, said: “Normally when greyhounds break a leg they are finished as racing dogs and are normally put down. I didn’t have the heart to do that so I took him down to Malcolm within an hour of the break.

“I had every faith in Malcolm’s ability and I’m really happy with the results, I’m glad we persevered.”

Within a few of months of the operation Tino was training with renowned North East based greyhound trainer Jimmy Fenwick. To date, under his racing name Abby’s Lad, the remarkable greyhound has won three out of five races at Newcastle’s Brough Park and is set for a sparkling future in the sport.

Jimmy said: “Abby’s Lad is certainly a dog to look out for. The results he’s had are unbelievable; you wouldn’t think he’d broken his leg as a pup or that he’d only been training for two months. I’ve sent greyhounds to Malcolm for years and he always performs an incredible job!”

Malcolm Ness, senior surgeon at Croft Vets, Blyth, is the only Orthopaedic Specialist in the North East of England and is often called upon to perform such intricate operations on racing greyhounds. Malcolm, along with two orthopaedic specialist colleagues in America developed the unique locking plate device used to save Tino’s leg, he said:

“This particular fracture would normally end a dog’s racing career but thankfully we’ve developed a way for it not to be so. Tino is the first of three greyhounds we are helping with this operation; we hope to emulate Tino’s success throughout the racing community.”

Croft Vets has seven practices across the North East and employs more than 30 animal lovers. For more information on the practices, locations and services visit www.croftvets.co.uk

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