A THREE-FOOTED dog has arrived at her new home after being adopted from a Romanian animal shelter.

The mongrel, called Holly, arrived in the UK last week and her new owner has been trying to raise money to have her fitted with a strap-on paw.

Cindy Rowland, who lives with her partner in Lawford, has been running a crowd-funding page for five months in an effort to get the cash.

So far she has only managed to raise £200 out of her £6,000 target, but she believes the total will increase now Holly is living in the UK.

She said: “The crowd-funding hasn’t been going very well but I’ve had plenty of people who have said they will pledge some money.

“Hopefully now that Holly is here, we will be able to get some more attention and things will start moving in the right direction.”

Mrs Rowland was keen thank a friend of hers, Mandy Thomas, for the work she has planned to reach the target.

As well as missing a paw, Holly has a large cataract covering one eye and vets will assess whether she needs skin treatment.

“The cost of a strap-on prosthetic will cost £4,000 and then we need another £1,500 for a full assessment at the vet specialist.

“That leaves £500, which I hope can help with her cataract.”

Mrs Rowland, of Harwich Road, explained another friend, who lives in Romania, catches the stray animals and sends them to a shelter called Dog Rescue Romania.

There they are cared for and put up for adoption and Mrs Rowland said she first saw Holly when the friend shared photos of the dog on Facebook.

She said: “My first thought when I saw the pictures of her was ‘Oh my goodness look at the state of that’.

“Her condition showed she had clearly been through a lot while she was on the streets, but her pretty face really stood out from the other dogs.

“My friend managed to put a collar on her after a few attempts because she was very keen to get away at first, but once the collar was on she was able to hand her over to the shelter.”

Mrs Rowland, 62, has two other rescue dogs and had originally planned to go to Romania to pick-up the ten-year-old herself.

But Holly’s carers in Romania allowed her to travel to the UK early and she arrived in the country on Thursday evening.

Mrs Rowland said: “Holly looks awful, but we will soon change that.

“She is very affectionate and almost desperate for strokes, bless her.”

Romania’s issue with stray dogs first began in the 1980s when they were abandoned by families moving into new apartment blocks.

The street dogs bred and the population of strays increased during the past three decades.

Mrs Rowland said: “It may sound silly, but I want to give Holly the best life possible in the years she has remaining.”

Anybody wishing to donate to the crowd-funding can visit www.crowdfunder.co.uk/hollysjourneyuk/