A plucky pooch whose battle with canine epilepsy touched the hearts of dog lovers across the country has set off on a 50-day UK adventure with his owners to raise awareness of the condition.
At one point, husky cross Blu suffered up to 15 major and 10 minor fits in the space of just three days, but thanks to medical trials, he has not suffered a fit since February.
To say thank you for the support and fund raising that his been done in aid of Blu, his owner Victoria McGuckin, known as Vic, will be travelling with her pet on a series of walks across the country over the next two months.
Mrs McGuckin, of Kesgrave, who set up the Blu’s Tale Foundation charity to help raise awareness, launched the fundraising mission with a dog walk around Christchurch Park on Saturday.
The 37-year-old said: “We want to help raise money so we can help organisations do research.
“Everywhere we go we are meeting up with dog walkers to raise as much awareness as we can and to say we need to fight this together.
“The support we have had has been amazing. My husband has been so supportive of me because it is my thing that I am doing and he has had to put up with an awful lot.
“The foundation group have been really supportive and friends on Facebook have been sharing everything from me as well – it has been immense.”
Mrs McGuckin has been joined by her teenage sons Kienan and Aaron on the walks, which will include trips to Scotland, Wales and the south coast of England before finishing in Thetford at the start of September.
As well as taking Blu, Mrs McGuckin’s other dogs, collie cross Samson and Siberian Husky Nakita, will also be on the trip.
Mrs McGuckin said she is determined to help dog owners whose pets have similar conditions, particularly as the medical trial Blu was on has wielded such good results.
She added: “He’s not on the trial anymore, he’s finished all that and he is doing very well so we are all really pleased.”
You can keep up to date with how the tour is going by visiting Facebook and type in Blu’s Tale Foundation 50 day UK wide Road Trip.
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