Three-year-old Booboo, a purebred poodle, was surrendered to Calista Animal Hospital Thursday because his owner couldn't afford the surgery he needs.

He's suffering from a broken leg and veterinarians may need to remove several of his toes and possibly his leg.

Veterinarian Carol Calista said the owner said Booboo was tied up outside and caught his leg in the wire. "We think that probably he had to chew his foot because it was so painful for him," Calista said.

Calista said the imprints on his leg make it appear that he could have been stuck like that for more than a day.

"This is where the rope has dug through his skin in two different places," Calista said as she showed KFOX14 his injuries. "So, it has to be a fair amount of time for that to happen."

Calista said the owner brought him in to be euthanized but Calista didn't want to put the dog down. Calista said she's doing her best to avoid removing his leg altogether.

"We want to save his leg if we can," Calista said.

Calista said the surgery would normally cost around $1,000 but the animal hospital is getting help from the Animal Relief Fund, which is a part of the Dona Ana County Humane Society. That fund gets its money through grants and personal donations only and is collecting the money now to help pay for Booboo's surgery.

The Animal Relief fund did not have the money right away but said it could pay Calista in December. The fund has a $30,000 budget this year and only accepts eight clients a month.

Kathy Lawitz of the Animal Relief Fund said the maximum amount of clients for the month were helped by Nov. 2.

"We were out of funding at the time but we said if they could work with us on it, let us pay them next month, we would be able to," Lawitz said.

Lawitz said The Animal Relief fund is the only continuous program in southern New Mexico which offers help to low-income families in need of veterinarian care for their pets.

"A lot of them are cases that would not have been emergencies had the owners been able to afford to take care of whatever was going on with their pet," Lawitz said. "We've had everything from broken legs to teeth that were abysessed so badly that they had to be pulled."

Calista said Booboo is doing a lot better than when he was first brought in on Thursday.

"With pain medications and anti-biotics and soaking the foot multiple times and bandaging it, we've been able to get it to the point where this tissue actually looks pretty healthy," Calista said.

A woman has come forward who is interested in adopting Booboo but the animal hospital says it will hold on to him until he's fully recovered.

If you are interested in donating, contact Calista Animal Hospital at 575-525-1000.