A devastated family face a £10,000 medical bill to give their pet dog a life-saving skin graft after it was dragged along a road by a hit and run motorist.

Charlie the Chow Chow, three, was seriously injured after being dragged 100 feet along a road during the incident on Tuesday, February 4 — just months after his family cancelled their costly pet insurance.

Owner Zoe Edwards, 44, said the beloved dog had escaped from the house through a door which was opened while one of her daughters was moving out.

After searching nearby streets to no avail, the family made a post on Facebook when they were contacted by a passerby who had taken him to an emergency vet following a serious crash.

Police say the incident involved the driver of a yellow Ford which did not stop after the crash in Darlington, County Durham.

Zoe said: "He had a lot of road burns near his backside, he had a really big hole which was quite serious. "

"When we took him back to the vet's the hole looked like it was getting worse and they said he would probably have to go for a skin graft."

Now, Zoe's family is facing the choice between stumping up for vet bills of up to £10,000 or putting their beloved friend down after cancelling their pet insurance just before Christmas.

The family has already raised more than £1,700 on GoFundMe to help pay for Charlie's treatment.

Zoe said: "We'd been paying it for about a year and a half, it was costing like £45 per month and we'd never used it, so we thought what was the point in having it – we never used it."

"Hindsight is a wonderful thing, but I don't know if it would have been covered by insurance anyway, I'm not too sure."

The incident has left furniture painter Zoe's 10 children ‘devastated'.

Zoe added: "[The driver] must have known [they] hit him, he's a massive dog."

"You know if you hit a brick or something, but to just drive off."

"If you hit something, you would stop. Even if you didn't stop, even if you panicked and you drove home, you would report it straight away."

A Durham police spokesperson said: "Police are investigating after a dog was seriously injured after being struck by a car in Darlington."

"The incident is believed to have happened on Northgate at around 8.10pm last Tuesday (February 4) and involved a yellow Ford which did not stop at the scene."

Those who wish to donate to the fundraiser can do so here: https://www.gofundme.com/f/reaedg-saving-charlie .