A rescue dog who was knocked down by a car the day before he was due to be adopted has been saved by an eleventh-hour donation.

Ham & High: Lorraine Chase and Peter Egan with Ira Moss from charity All Dogs Matter at Burgh House.Lorraine Chase and Peter Egan with Ira Moss from charity All Dogs Matter at Burgh House. (Image: Archant)

Jamie the Collie escaped into the road on his final day at a foster home in Hampstead Garden Suburb.

The next day, he was going to be adopted full time by a family from Bournemouth.

He had been placed in the home by All Dogs Matter, a Highgate shelter that finds temporary foster homes for abandoned dogs until they are adopted.

On Jamie’s final morning at the foster home, he escaped into the road through an open door and was run over by a passing car, leaving him with a broken right leg and a snapped pelvis.

He needed urgent attention from a vet - but the neither the charity nor the foster carer had the funds.

However, in a stroke of luck, All Dogs Matter had just won a £500 donation from a pet insurance company’s monthly prize draw. It covered half of the vet’s fees, which were given at a discount.

After fighting a bacterial infection, Jamie is on his way to making a full recovery. He is thriving with his new family in Bournemouth, but is returning to the Hampstead vet later this month to have metal plates removed from his legs.

Ira Moss, manager of All Dogs Matter, said “Jamie was abandoned because his owners realised that East Finchley wasn’t the right place for a Collie,” she said. “If they had thought about that earlier, he wouldn’t have been kept in a house so close to the road - and this would never have happened.”

She said the case showed people should choose a dog breed that was appropriate for their home, area and lifestyle and also highlighted the necessity of pet insurance, she added.

“If it wasn’t for the donation and the reduced vet fees, Jamie would have had to be put to sleep,” she said.

Currently responsible for close to 50 dogs, All Dogs Matter shelters abandoned animals in-house and in the homes of volunteer foster carers.

It promises every one of its rescue dogs that “it will be safe, cared for and loved for the rest of its life” - and never destroys a dog that can’t find a home.

The charity’s chairman is actor Peter Egan, a Hampstead resident who has both adopted and fostered dogs.

Other local celebrity supporters include former EastEnders actress Michelle Collins, comendians Alan Carr and Ricky Gervais and TV presenter Jonathan Ross.