Oscar's IVDD Journey

MEET OSCAR

Oscar is our six and half-year-old beautiful Chocolate & Tan Miniature Dachshund who is at the centre of our lives. He is one of those pooches that demands to sit in your lap even if there is a laptop or cup of tea in it and must be tucked in with a blanky before he can sleep peacefully. He loves the sound of his own voice and makes sure to let us know when a bird is on the front lawn or the wind changes direction, is scared of fireworks and thunder, and enjoys hour-long belly scratches. Most of all he loves to bake in the sun, finding the slightest sliver of sunlight hitting the floor and positioning himself perfectly centred in it for hours - even following it as it moves! Oscar is a mumma's boy at heart and if he had the choice of mum or dads lap, he will always choose mum (but will settle for dad if no other lap is available for him). He loves walkies, snackies but can be scared easily by other dogs if they are a little too friendly with him, you know, standard small dog syndrome things! Oscar is a big brother to 10-month-old Honey, our chocolate dapple long hair Miniature Dachshund and he loves protecting her, or protecting things against her too-boisterous energy!

Nicknames: Ratty, Ratty Boy, Mr Ratty, Rat Bag, Oski, Derpy Boy.

HIS CONDITION

Intervertebral Disc Disease (IVDD) is a known disease in this breed. Due to their long long bodies and short legs, the poorly designed biomechanics lead to more pressure on their backs and increases their risk of disc injuries in their spines that lead to spinal cord compression.

In September of 2022, after a fun-filled weekend camping (another one of his favourite things to do!) and a day running on the sand at the beach, he had his first incident. Our first clue was how uncomfortable and in pain he was after a bath the afternoon we arrived home. We initially put it down to sore muscles as he is a couch-potato kinda guy and a big day on the beach would have made him a little sore. But the next morning he had worsened. He could barely walk, was hunched over, crying in pain and shaking uncontrollably. We rushed him off to the vet and they confirmed he was Stage 2/3 IVDD, but with conservative treatment of lots of crate rest with pain management, he made a full recovery in 12 short weeks. So we thought.

Fast forward to one morning in January, (yesterday at the time of writing this) it got scary. Aaron had fed him his breakfast and some painkillers as he had a small relapse the afternoon before. After taking him outside to do his business, he placed him down on the grass and a full IVDD episode happened; one leg buckled, then the other. He was squealing, squirming and screaming in pain and his back legs completely stopped working and just flopped onto the grass. Not knowing what to do he picked him up and put him back in his crate to keep him still, but it didn't make a difference. He then lost control of his bowels and we knew it was serious. He was rushed to the Animal Referral Hospital 24/7 Emergency Department and they confirmed he reached Stage 4 IVDD and will need urgent surgery.

They discovered in surgery he had not one but two injury sites of concern. His T12-L1 disc was the initial injury from 2022, as it was more fibrous and harder to remove. The more acute site was L1-L2, the disc below the older one, and was causing his spinal cord to deviate quite a lot (aka it was bigger). Thankfully the surgery went very well, and he is doing okay. We are hoping to bring him home in a few days.

We now face a long road of recovery for our little baby and a huge vet bill. He will have to undergo extensive veterinary physiotherapy, hydrotherapy and continuous care. We are unsure how long his road to recovery will be but we hope to see him walking and being able to wee on his own in the next few weeks.

We are not typically the type of people to ask for financial help, but given our scenario, we are needing every bit of help we can get. His surgery and ICU care is $10,000, and the unknown of his rehabilitation care on top of this has us nervous.

As owners who did everything they could to try to prevent this from ever happening, we are beside ourselves and heartbroken. We just want to see him back to his loving, affectionate and lazy self.

Hug your pets a little tighter today.

We appreciate you and any support you're able to give us, no matter how small.

Emma, Aaron, Oscar & Honey.

xx

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