Marco’s IVDD Surgery and Recovery

Hi my name is Marco, you may know me from instagram as @marcominiaturedachshund. Very scarily for my parents on 16/11/2023 I started hunching over and walking slower than usual to get a treat. Mum knew I wasn’t right and took me to the vets where I began dragging my back legs. I was immediately referred to Southern Counties Veterinary Specialist, the neurologist diagnosed me with stage 2 IVDD. I spent the night in ICU and deteriorated. I was sent for a CT scan, which showed a haemorrhaged disc in T13 and I have been diagnosed with stage 3 IVDD and gone for emergency surgery. Although I am insured up to £7500, various parts of my consultation, diagnostics, treatment and recovery are not included in my insurance. My treatment at the moment is estimated at approximately £7000-£9000 and we are unsure how much will be covered by insurance and have been predicted further costs for rehabilitation, medication and recovery. We do know the hospitalisation and emergency consultation and referral fees are not included, this is something we wish we had seen and spent time reading in the small print of the insurance documents! When we know an exact amount we will update this to reflect and if there is anything remaining by any chance we will donate to IVDD UK charity. The IVDD Uk Charity and Dedicated to Dachshunds charity support owners and provide equipment for loan and purchase this would help them to continue running and being able to support owners in this situation. The group has been a huge support system to ourselves. 

Marco’s Owners: We can’t believe we are in this situation and this has happened to us, we will do whatever it takes to enable Marco to make a full recovery but if you are able to donate anything towards his care and treatment we would be entirely grateful. Having insurance and having it cover a high cost amount we never expected to be in this position. As an account with a big following, we would like to make posts and reels highlighting awareness of IVDD, our experience and document our journey with updates to support anyone in any way we can. All our love xx