The chairman of Saatchi & Saatchi and his fashion designer wife have started a crowdfunding campaign so their Instagram-famous dog can see celebrity vet Noel Fitzpatrick, asking their social media followers to raise £7,500.

Despite the fact they lavish their welsh terrier Edward Lear with designer clothes, according to pictures on its Instagram, where the animal is followed by more than 10,000 people, and give it trips to five-star hotels, the couple has asked the public to pay the vet bill.

Richard Huntington, who lives with his wife in a house worth more than £1million, told Private Eye that he had been "inundated" with public support after being asked whether the campaign was appropriate.

The advertising executive is thought to earn a six-figure salary, but his wife begged on a GoFundMe page: "All I want is for my funny little dog to be able to run around again like the crazy terrier he is and climb mountains in the Lake District and Snowdonia like he used to and enjoy his life to the fullest.