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RELATED: Rehab dog Boris' surgery a success
BORIS the staffie is back doing what he does best - being a good best friend.
A valuable pet to about six men in drug and alcohol rehabilitation at a Connect Transformations Bendigo transition house, Boris was severely hurt after being hit by a car in early April.
Eaglehawk vet Passionate Vetcare realised they needed to amputate a leg to save him and, thanks to help from the Pet Medical Crisis Fund and community members who donated money, the surgery was a success.
More than a month on, Boris was now back home and almost back to normal, Connect Transformations Bendigo director Richard Gibbs said.
"He's a really good mate for the guys. He plays with them, he's there as a companion," he said.
"He does all the stuff he used to do, he's just missing a back leg."
One of the people most happy to see Boris home again was supervisor at the Connect Transformations house, Dylan Whelan.
"He's gone really good, he's back to normal now," he said.
Mr Whelan said he and others at the house feared Boris wouldn't make it after being hit by the car.
"When I originally went down to Passionate Vetcare, he'd lost a lot of blood and couldn’t walk, I was worried he wouldn't pull through," he said.
"It worried me and a lot of the guys, we weren't sure how we would pay for it. We were all very shattered really."
He said he was impressed with the vets at the clinic who went out of their way to help, while having all the money for Boris' surgery donated was unexpected.
"At the start it was pretty scary because most of these guys don't have much," he said.
"I was going to put money I'm saving towards my first car towards it."
He said Boris was important to all the men who came into the house, a lot of whom came in with issues of broken trust.
"A lot of the time people have been getting advice from people their whole life, sometimes it's good to have a friend that doesn't talk back," he said.