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BE A RESPONSIBLE PET OWNER<br />
If you’re a dog owner, summer is the perfect time to enjoy long walks with your favourite<br />
furry friend. When you're out and about with your dog, please be a responsible owner by:<br />
➤ Carrying a plastic bag or 'poop scoop' with you and lift your dog’s mess.<br />
➤ Never letting your dog onto the street on their own to foul.<br />
➤ Respecting dog-free areas.<br />
➤ Making sure your dog has a licence.<br />
Failure to pick up your dog's mess, or<br />
allowing your dog to stray, could lead<br />
to an £80 fine for you and have life<br />
changing consequences for others.<br />
SAM’S STORY<br />
Thank you to our tenant Angela for<br />
sharing her story about how this issue<br />
has impacted upon her family.<br />
Angela says:<br />
“My son Sam is 24. He has been blind<br />
in one eye since he was just four years<br />
old because he wiped it after touching<br />
dog mess.<br />
“Two days after starting primary school<br />
Sam came home complaining that he<br />
felt dizzy. He had a temperature, so I<br />
gave him some Calpol and put him to<br />
bed. When he woke up a few hours<br />
later there was green puss all around<br />
his eye and he told me he couldn’t see!<br />
“We took him to hospital immediately<br />
where tests confirmed that he had<br />
contracted Toxocariasis, an infection<br />
caused by the larvae of parasitic worms<br />
that live in the intestines of dogs.<br />
“In the following 6 weeks Sam lost<br />
over 2 stone in weight and had nine<br />
operations to try and save his eye.<br />
Finally a biopsy showed that a tumor<br />
had developed and there was no<br />
other option than to remove his<br />
eye completely.”<br />
Angela explains that this was really just<br />
the start of a very difficult journey for<br />
Sam and the whole family:<br />
“Having his eye removed had a big<br />
impact on Sam that he feels to this<br />
day. The process of having a false<br />
eye fitted was horrific and it made<br />
him feel different from everyone else,<br />
inadequate and very, very angry. After<br />
the surgery he was no longer the happy<br />
go lucky, active wee boy he had been<br />
before. And his brothers and sisters<br />
also suffered as all of our focus had to<br />
be on Sam.”<br />
“Sadly he never came to terms with<br />
what happened to him and he now has<br />
problems with drugs. It breaks my heart<br />
but we have very little contact now.”<br />
“I would urge all dog owners to be<br />
responsible – worm your dog regularly<br />
and always, always pick up after<br />
them. No child should have a lifetime<br />
of suffering like Sam just because of<br />
irresponsible owners.”<br />
Clanmil Housing Group | 5
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