A COCKER spaniel may not live to see his next birthday after his owner was told she could not claim for an operation on his insurance

A COCKER spaniel may not live to see his next birthday after his owner was told she could not claim for an operation on his insurance. Annette Mills took in Freeway in May last year, but by November he was starting to go blind. The previous owner, who moved to Malaysia, had taken out pet insurance with the RSPCA, but because Annette's name was not on the policy she was told she could not make a claim.Annette said: "The insurance rans out on Saturday and I cannot afford the operations. Freeway is practically blind and we have now found out he has a heart murmur. The vet said he hasn't got long."Annette took the 10-year-old dog in because she already had another cocker spaniel called Ben. She said: "Ben was deaf and Freeway was going blind, so they helped each other out. But we had to have Ben put down. "I managed to contact Freeway's previous owner in Malaysia and he was on the phone to the RSPCA for 20 minutes trying to sort it out, but it was costing him a fortune. I rang and asked if there was an email address I could give him but they told me they don't have emails."I just want to get past all the red tape. Freeway needs operations on his eyes and now his heart. He walks into things because he can't see. It's not fair on him."The 58-year-old accounts assistant, of Cookson Close, Burnham, says she cannot take out another policy of insurance because they won't pay out for a condition he already has.An RSPCA spokesman said: "The details of Mrs Mills' case have been passed on to the company which used to be the RSPCA's insurance provider at the time this policy was taken out. It would be inappropriate to comment further.