'I rescued puppy living in van that had only ever eaten Chinese food'

Stay-at-home mum Sarah Moore was scrolling through social media when she came across a post about a tiny chihuahua called Bella. Without hesitation, the 55-year-old swooped in to rescue the pup from her less-than-stellar living conditions as the pooch was living in a van and “had only ever eaten Chinese food”.

When Sarah took the dog to the vet it was revealed she had lost most of her teeth due to this diet and her nails were overgrown too. Luckily, Bella easily integrated into the Moore home alongside Sarah’s two Labradors and three other chihuahuas.

However, the Suffolk mum understood Bella wasn’t the only precious pet facing worsening conditions after the pandemic saw a surge in people getting pets only for the cost of living crisis to devastate their pet budgets. Plans to return to the office have also seen more and more pets turning into strays as their owners no longer have the time or money to look after them.

This tore at the mum-of-three, who said: "Here in Suffolk, dogs are being found in different places every day, just left and tied to fences. These poor dogs need more people to help them. I felt I had to do something.”

While she couldn’t take in every Bella she spotted on social media, she did start supporting local animal charities. Yet she didn’t have as much disposable income to share with the cause due to the cost of living crisis as her dog food and vet bills also skyrocketed.

However, she soon discovered a different way she could help without costing herself a penny as her local animal charity, Suffolk Animal Rescue, is a cause on easyfundraising. In return for using the platform to do her online shopping, the companies she buys from donates a percentage of her purchase to the charities of her choice without adding any extra expense to her bill.

Sarah said: “I’ll do my supermarket shopping at Sainsbury's via easyfundraising, and a donation will go to SAR just from my food shop. When that starts adding up it’s incredible. It doesn’t take up any time and doesn’t cost any money. You just sign up and then visit their site or open their app before you shop, that’s it.”

So far, Sarah has raised £240 for SAR without spending an extra penny for it and this figure will likely rise as she plans to do her Christmas shopping through the website. More than 190,000 causes are listed on easyfundraising with over £57million in funding being generated for them through the platform.