Rest in peace Rosie

ROSIE’S AUTO IMMUNE DISEASES 2023

3 years later and we are back here… our gorgeous lively setter Rosie’s life has changed again and she’s fighting to keep it.

Today she has been diagnosed with Thrombocytopenia and Immune mediated haemolytic anaemia. She is currently in critical condition in our local veterinary clinic and will remain there for the next week.

Time is critical at this point. She doesn’t have a week left in her as it stands currently. If she doesn’t respond to medication in a few days, she will need a blood transfusion from our staghound Chase to buy her more time.

We didn’t think we would be back here yet again trying to save Rosie’s life for a second time. This is absolutely heartbreaking for us.

We currently have $1300 worth of vet bills to pay for and we estimate the cost of her current stay and medications will be upwards of $2500.

Of course, any donations will help us save our girls life, but also sharing her story would mean the world to us!

ROSIE’S ROSIE’S HEART SURGERY 2020

Rosie is our 12 week old Irish Setter puppy.

Rosie has been diagnosed with a stage 5 heart murmur caused by a PDA (Patent ductus arteriosus) a congenital heart condition and now requires heart surgery estimated to cost approximately $5000 

This is Rosie’s story:

Rosie was flown to us from Melbourne at 8 weeks old. On her arrival we were told by her breeder that she had a “mild case of kennel cough”. Upon further inspection she had a horrible cough and a really fast, noticeable heart beat. We didn’t think a lot of it at first, as the breeder had provided us antibiotics for the cough and we took his advice. Little did we know they were the wrong antibiotics and also out of date. 

Overnight her cough became worse and we made the decision to take her to our local vet clinic. Here they prescribed her appropriate antibiotics. Unfortunately we got more than we bargained for at that vet visit, as the vet also found quite a prominent heart murmur. The decision was made to reassess the murmur at her 12 week vaccinations. 

A few days later we noticed her heart rate was consistently fast and sitting around 200 beats per minute, even when resting. She had a slight temperature and her breathing increased also. 

We made another appointment to see the vet and it was decided that Rosie has a grade 5 murmur and she was referred to a specialist in Adelaide for a consultation and any tests she may need. 

Last week Rosie attended her specialist appointment in Adelaide and a grade 5 heart murmur was also discovered by the specialist. He performed an echocardiogram on her heart and discovered Rosie has PDA. PDA is a congenital heart disease caused by the failure of the ductus arteriosus muscle to constrict, leaving a passageway for blood flow resulting in eventual left-sided heart disease and/or heart failure.

Rosie needs to have heart surgery to correct the PDA as soon as possible. Rosie’s prognosis without surgery is a life expectancy of less than 1 year. We were given two options for surgery. One being a less invasive procedure in Melbourne, however due to COVID-19 we are unable to make this happen for her. The second option is open heart surgery in Adelaide with a specialist, set to cost an estimated $5000. 

Rosie’s breeder has been constantly informed of her condition during this process. On her arrival to us, her breeder offered to pay any vet bills regarding her cough, should we decide to take her to the vet. The vet bills to date have totalled over $1000 and none have been paid by the breeder. 

Rosie was born with her heart condition and it was missed at the time of her vet check prior to us purchasing her. We fully expected to be receiving a healthy puppy when committing to her purchase. We did NOT receive a healthy puppy in any way, shape or form. Including her purchase price and surgery we are having to spend over $8000 for a puppy who was known to be unwell at the time of purchase. 

Her breeder offered a replacement puppy or a refund, only if we send her back. Neither of these were ever an option for us, as she is a part of our family and will not be given up on. She is NOT replaceable by any means. 

Her breeder has since mentioned he is willing to replace her or issue a full refund of her purchase price (with no mention of sending her back) however we are yet to receive the refund and have no confirmation from them of the refund taking place.

We will not give up on Rosie. She deserves a chance at life. She doesn’t have time on her hands and we can’t wait any longer for a refund we may not receive for quite some time. This GoFund Me is to help us raise the funds for the surgery that will save her life. 

We are so very grateful for any donations we may receive. We hope you can meet Rosie one day and see just how special she really is!

Any additional or left over donations received will be donated to the vet clinic and specialist clinic who have helped save her life.