As the day progressed, the pain became worse and Irene, who is in her 70s, contacted her GP.

After an examination, the doctor decided her symptoms signalled a serious problem, and called an ambulance to transfer Irene to Ninewells.

She phoned her neighbour and good friend Sheila Hayton to come to her home to look after the 10-year-old cocker spaniel.

“It turned out that my bowel had been pushing through to my stomach and that I had a perforated ulcer, which required me to be operated on immediately.

“I thought I would only be in hospital for a night or so. When I woke up in Ward 9 after the operation, I was told I would need to be kept in for a few days to recover.

“I mentioned to one of the staff nurses, who was particularly nice to me, that Treun would need looked after, to which she responded ‘no problem, I’ll sort it out right away’.”

She returned later to tell me she had organised for Treun to be picked up and taken to Kinaldie Kennels, close to her home.

Irene went on, “What great service from the staff at Ninewells. The nurse even called the kennels the next day to make sure Treun had settled in and that he was eating well. They were even walking him five times a day!

“The physiotherapy staff were also fantastic — they would come and ask me if I wanted to go for a walk rather than tell me that’s what I had to do.

“After a week, I was able to return home. The kennels kept Treun for a couple of days until I was well enough to look after him properly and they even dropped him off. He had obviously been well cared for, but was very happy to see me.”.”

Irene thanked medical and nursing staff at Ninewells, as well as the social work team who helped organise the accommodation for Treun.

“This is more than I could have ever expected. I never for a second thought they would go out of their way to do something like that. I cannot thank them enough. The ward was so clean and I was so well attended to, constantly asked if I’d had enough to eat and drink – I felt as though I was in a hotel.”