A family’s pet dog suffered burns to her back and was left with terrible scars after going to a Staffordshire vet for a routine procedure.

Burntwood couple Nicola and Darren Fellows spent more than £2,000 on treatment – including a visit to a specialist in Merseyside –  to ease the two-year-old dog’s pain and correct the damage.

The insurers of the veterinary surgery in Cannock town centre have accepted full liability and reimbursed the couple the money they have spent.

Lucy, was taken to Melbourne Veterinary Centre  in September to be spayed.

The couple noticed problems after taking her back to their Redwood Drive home.

Customer services advisor Nicky said: “The burn wasn’t immediately obvious. We became concerned because she couldn’t bear for us to touch her back and would just collapse.

“The vet told us it was a normal reaction after surgery. We were to-ing and fro-ing to the practice for two or three weeks but all they could say was that she had had a reaction to the injection. Eventually her fur started falling out and we could see wheals.”

The vet’s practice, in Hednesford Street, advised the Fellows to take Lucy to a specialist in St Helens.

She was sent home after a week when she stopped eating and the couple say they took two weeks off work.

Nicky, 34, and Darren, 39, say that the practice has accepted responsibility and its insurance firm has paid the £2,100 the pair spent.

“Even now, Lucy is terribly scarred,” said Nicky, “We haven’t asked for compensation, we just wanted our money back.”

Clinical director of the practise, Catalina Thiersen, declined to comment.