Joyful Jazz the Rescue Retriever needs surgery
Donation protected
Jazz has had a long medical journey from the day she was born. She came to us on foster 
as an 8 week old rescue puppy with urine scolds down her legs and belly. It became quickly apparent she was urine incontinent. Due to the severity of her issues she was classified as guarded prognosis. For the first year and a half of jazz's life there was medical mile stones we journeyed through together. At 6 months old she had surgery to correct ectopic ureters. While the surgery was successful her incontinence continued. A specialist recommended we wait until she had her first season before trialing medication, as oestrogen can strongly affect the level of incontinence. After a year we managed to get jazz's incontinence to a level that allowed her to pass for rehoming.
Despite multiple rehoming drives, the rescue struggled to find new willing owners that had the right set up to manage Jazz and her needs. She has medication 3 times a day which need giving at very specific times and not near feeds. She needs regular toilet breaks to help alleviate the extent of her dripping and wears nappies when indoors. This meant someone with flexible routine to be able to work around jazz's schedule.
We did find one family willing to give her a go. That first night we spent without her, I sat down on the sofa and put my mug of tea in the centre of the coffee table, specifically placed to avoid jazz's sweeping tail. A lump caught in my throat as I realised with all my best efforts to not fall in love with her, she had stolen my heart. As fate had it, she was returned to us 24hrs later as the home didn’t work out. When we officially adopted her January 2021, I promised her that I would always be her advocate and do right by her as best as I knew how. Since then she has helped many more foster babies in their journey through rescue and into their new homes. Happily sharing her joy (and toys) with any new visitor. She is a rock and often comes to work with me and acts as a role model and friend to other dogs in need.
Unfortunately, a year on and jazz's incontinence has gradually gotten worse. She's had repeated bouts of UTI's which are common in dogs with incontinence. I reached out to the specialist who treated Jazz when she was younger to make sure there wasn't anything we had overlooked. We checked her kidney function and bladder health and thankfully the tests all came back clear. This all pointed to the cause of her continued incontinence to a sphincter malfunction. This is encouraging because there is one final surgery we could try that has a high chance of potentially fully fixing her incontinence!
This surgery involves the placement of an artificial sphincter and needs carrying out by the specialist referral. The specialists have been extremely kind and offered a charity 10% discount. The rescue Jazz was gifted to have also offered a donation towards the surgery. This leaves us with a remaining £2800 of vet bills. Jazz was immediately insured when we adopted her but due to this being a problem from birth it is not covered.
I'm asking for help so that I can fulfil my promise to Jazz as her advocate and provide her the best chance of having the highest welfare possible. So she can continue to be the sunshine she is every single day with the least burden on her. She is the most wonderful dog and I want to be able to give back to her what she gives everyone in love every moment of every day.
as an 8 week old rescue puppy with urine scolds down her legs and belly. It became quickly apparent she was urine incontinent. Due to the severity of her issues she was classified as guarded prognosis. For the first year and a half of jazz's life there was medical mile stones we journeyed through together. At 6 months old she had surgery to correct ectopic ureters. While the surgery was successful her incontinence continued. A specialist recommended we wait until she had her first season before trialing medication, as oestrogen can strongly affect the level of incontinence. After a year we managed to get jazz's incontinence to a level that allowed her to pass for rehoming.Despite multiple rehoming drives, the rescue struggled to find new willing owners that had the right set up to manage Jazz and her needs. She has medication 3 times a day which need giving at very specific times and not near feeds. She needs regular toilet breaks to help alleviate the extent of her dripping and wears nappies when indoors. This meant someone with flexible routine to be able to work around jazz's schedule.
We did find one family willing to give her a go. That first night we spent without her, I sat down on the sofa and put my mug of tea in the centre of the coffee table, specifically placed to avoid jazz's sweeping tail. A lump caught in my throat as I realised with all my best efforts to not fall in love with her, she had stolen my heart. As fate had it, she was returned to us 24hrs later as the home didn’t work out. When we officially adopted her January 2021, I promised her that I would always be her advocate and do right by her as best as I knew how. Since then she has helped many more foster babies in their journey through rescue and into their new homes. Happily sharing her joy (and toys) with any new visitor. She is a rock and often comes to work with me and acts as a role model and friend to other dogs in need.
Unfortunately, a year on and jazz's incontinence has gradually gotten worse. She's had repeated bouts of UTI's which are common in dogs with incontinence. I reached out to the specialist who treated Jazz when she was younger to make sure there wasn't anything we had overlooked. We checked her kidney function and bladder health and thankfully the tests all came back clear. This all pointed to the cause of her continued incontinence to a sphincter malfunction. This is encouraging because there is one final surgery we could try that has a high chance of potentially fully fixing her incontinence!
This surgery involves the placement of an artificial sphincter and needs carrying out by the specialist referral. The specialists have been extremely kind and offered a charity 10% discount. The rescue Jazz was gifted to have also offered a donation towards the surgery. This leaves us with a remaining £2800 of vet bills. Jazz was immediately insured when we adopted her but due to this being a problem from birth it is not covered.
I'm asking for help so that I can fulfil my promise to Jazz as her advocate and provide her the best chance of having the highest welfare possible. So she can continue to be the sunshine she is every single day with the least burden on her. She is the most wonderful dog and I want to be able to give back to her what she gives everyone in love every moment of every day.
Organiser
Kat Davenport
Organiser
England
