Penny’s IVDD Recovery

On the 30/07/24, My partner Jason noticed that our beautiful dachshund Penny was limp in her back legs. There was no trauma or indication as to why she was experiencing this. She was showing signs of pain and inability to walk. Jason rushed her to SASH and we were given the unfortunate diagnosis of IVDD.

IVDD occurs in 1 in every 4 dachshunds and we have been so unfortunate that our 2 dachshunds have both now experienced it.

Our male dachshund Rusty was diagnosed in 2021 and his case was so severe that he needed immediate surgery. This was an overall bill of $16,000, which jason and I used out of our house deposit funds. Unfortunately for rusty, he experienced IVDD 2 more times 6 and 12 months later. We have not had the funds to undertake surgery again and instead have had to use our savings to pay for medical management both times.

We are not in a situation to afford surgery and therefore Penny will be undergoing 8-12 weeks of strict crate rest.

This involves 24/7 care with someone needing to be with her at all times to cater to her toileting and medication needs. She will require weekly vet appointments and medications for pain, inflammation and a sedative to keep her calm while in the crate. She will also require physiotherapy and hydrotherapy to help her learn how to walk again.

Although we have been through this before, we were not prepared for this to happen to Penny and are now struggling with the onset of emergency vet fees and cost of her care. We feel extremely guilty that we cannot provide the same surgery to her that we did for Rusty, and just hope she makes a full recovery after this medical management.

We understand that most people may not be able to donate, but we just wanted to give penny the best shot at this.

Thank you for taking the time to read this and thinking of our little family.

Lots of love,

Jason, Chloe, Rusty and Penny x