2025 has been a year of a lot of sadness and loss for Life of Pikelet.
In January of this year, sweet forever pup of Life of Pikelet, Patty Cakes, gained his wings after a 6 month battle of stage 5 lymphoma.
Then in March of this year LoP Sanctuary pup "Panadol" gained her wings, succumbing to her degenerative congenital birth anomaly, shaking puppy syndrome.
And if that wasn't enough tragedy, in June of this year, blind French bulldog and forever pup of Life of Pikelet, Peanut Buttercup, suddenly passed away from complications due to her congenital breathing issues.
Three "forever" Life of Pikelet pups all gained their wings and the year was barely halfway through.
In September of 2025, Life of Pikelet Rescue accepted a private surrender of a puppy thought to be deaf. As it turned out, that puppy wasn't deaf but rather brought into the rescue the deadly parvovirus.
For 5 weeks and almost a $10,000 vet bill, this rescue was crippled with a never before experienced, parvo outbreak.
Being a neonatal and young puppy focused rescued, where all of our intakes tend be born differently abled and with very low functioning immune systems, this was a threat to our rescuing abilities which truly came down to life or death.
For one puppy, death came too soon and unfairly. Parvovirus claimed the life of tiny 355gram, 9 week old, chihuahua puppy "Perfect Pockets". This teeny little girl arrived into LoP care at just 3 days old as she was failing to thrive and unable to drink off her mum. For 8 weeks and 4 days she grew, thrived and readied herself for adoption. Gaining her wings on exactly her 9 week birthday.
2025 has not been a great year, 2024 wasn't either.
Loosing Pikelet, Patty and 4 other Life of Pikelet forevers (Pitaya, Myrtle-Lou, Panadol and Peanut Buttercup) and 3 somewhat longterm foster pups in care, Pot Noodles, Painkiller and Perfect Pockets in the span of 2 years... has been nothing short of a living nightmare.
Calling it quicks has felt like something I may need to do. The emotional toll felt not only for myself, but my close supportive team, has been nothing short of a living nightmare.
But I am not a quitter, and the legacy of Pikelet, Patty Cakes, and all the many other Life of Pikelet babies, is far too valuable to be erased and forgotten.
I do need to shut the doors closed to all new intakes for the next year. We, my team and I, did so back in October.
Closing our doors is not as simple as a post on social media. We are still in utterly desperate need of urgent funds to the tune of almost $90k. So far in the two months we've had the other Go Fund Me, we have raised only 13% of that goal amount.
The $90,000 (just under) was our "urgent" and "immediate" needs for this rescue. Not, just a comfortable amount of money that would fund us to do more than the bare minimum for what we need right now (or rather yesterday).
At this time here is who we have in care:
Persian Mule, Pinot Grigio, Porchcrawler and Pickleback - 4 littermates from a litter of 10 puppies and mum we rescued in November 2023 (when they were first born). 4 x Wolfhound/Staghound/Greyhound/Mastiff boys who are fully vetted and ready for adoption. They have spent their whole entire lives in foster care and they turn 2 years old in a few days.
Parmigiana - a 2 year old Aussie Bulldog boy with spina bifida (his only issue is manageable incontinence) who has had all his vet work done, had double cherry-eye surgery completed and awaits for adoption (for 2 long years).
Prozac - an almost 3 year old British Bulldog boy with a full cleft palate and cleft lip. Has had all his vet work done but awaits cleft repair surgery which we need to fund via this fundraiser. Prozac was originally adopted via LoP and is now being returned as his current family circumstances have changed.
Pampoenkoekies - a 8 month old American Staffy boyo who was privately surrendered as his old owners were advertising him "free to a good home" on gumtree. He is full vetted and ready for adoption.
Partridge Pie - a 5 month old sighthound x cattle dog x bull terrier pound pup girl, all vet work is up to date and she is ready for adoption.
Pizza Pie - a 8 month old English Staffy x Jack Russell pound pup boyo, who is currently in foster care with adoption pending, vet work needs to be completed before adoption.
Pillsbury Puff - a 3 month old staffy mix breed girl, parvo survivor with adoption pending and vet work needing to be completed.
Pepsi Cola - a 8 week old pug boyo with a full cleft palate, possible parvo survivor (he tested positive originally but did not become super unwell), vet work up to-date, will be adoptable soon.
Potjiekos - a 3 week old rhodesian ridgeback with a substantial full hard and soft cleft palate. Will not be adoptable for sometime.
This (hopefully) last Go Fund Me for 2025 is our last ditch appeal.
We need your help to keep the current dogs in care safe and healthy.
We need your help to get through the need to safely ready HQ of this rescue to reopen in October 2026, parvovirus is something we need to be sure to eradicate before we reopen.
And we desperately need the funds to fund our legal team in Sydney and finally have this rescue hold Charity status and DGR.
These are the current URGENT financial needs of Life of Pikelet. These are not Wish List items, these are "needs".
So there is no confusion as to every single dollar, below is a detailed outline of where we will allocate raised funds. If this isn't specific enough, feel free to email Life of Pikelet (as we can't add an email address here, please see our social media for best email contact).
*It is important for us to let you know that this is not taking into consideration of Go Fund Me fees, technically we probably should have put more "fat" into our goal, however we want this to be as transparent as possible.
** Any and all PayPal and Bank Transfer donations will be collated at the end of the week and it will be reflected in this fund so we are not doubling up on our goal.
URGENT ADMINISTRATION
Yearly Website, emails and online storage $4000 PAID
HQ rescue operational bills owing $5460
URGENT HQ Maintenance and Safety
- Second custom built indoor security gate $1500
- Supplies and donations storage upgrades for weather proofing and vermin proofing (in our large Shed) $2600
- 2 x Skip hard rubbish bins $900 + $700 PAID
- ICU Neonate upgrades as current equipment is no longer functional and we had to dispose of equipment (such as an incubator) due to parvo contamination $4600.
- Ride on mower for ground maintenance needs servicing and new blades, engine quote is $2500 PAID
- Portable Air Conditioner for the Hounds outhouse $480 PAID
- Parvovirus after effects cleaning, bleaching and replacement $4360
URGENT FOOD & SUPPLIES needed for current fosters
- RAW food bill expected costs until Jan 2026 (when Barking Good reopens) $3500
- Working breed kibble for 4 x sighthound in care for the months of Nov & Dec $1008
- Puppy specific kibble for the 4 x puppies in care for the months of Nov & Dec $340
- Bedding/crates, replacements of existing worn crates/bedding (for fosters only) $5400
- Home Incinerator. Unfortunately the rescue needs to source and purchase a incinerator so that our dear little neonates that cross rainbow bridge, do not sit in cold storage indefinitely. With a bit of shopping around a budget of $2000 for a small incinerator or pottery kiln seems to be reasonable. We will then need to purchase little urns as HQ is a rented property and it's not reasonable to scatter ashes on a rental.
VET BILLS Estimated/Quoted
- PIZZA PIE $750 (PAID)
- PARTRIDGE PIE $980 - covering vaccinations, cytopoint injections + steroids and cream for her skin & desexing. (partial PAID)
- PILLSBURY PUFF - sponsor has covered all her vaccinations, $1500 (laparoscopic sterilization) PAID
- 4 x Sighthound boys $640 (yearly vaccinations/worming/heartworming) we need this for end of November.
- EVELYN COUCH $4,900
- PEPSI COLA $350 - Pepsi has had his first vaccination and microchip complete and his breeder covered his bill. He will still need vaccinations & eye care before adoption. PAID
- PIGLET & POLLIWOG (sanctuary care ponies) $2400 (estimate based off quote)
- PAMPLEMOUSSE $1500 (laparoscopic sterilization)
- PROZAC $4000 (cleft repair surgery + CT)
- POTJIEKO $400 + VET - We've had $600 donated for the incubator but I had to pay $400 out of pocket which I cannot afford to personally ware. VET CARE PAID
VET BILLS OWING
- $1700 Greencross Werribie
- $1632 Sydney Vet
- $500 owing from Parmigiana's double cherry eye surgery
PATTY CAKES & PIKELET bills I personally still owe (borrowed funds)
- $3000 for Patty's second last Chemo round (personal loan)
- $1000 for deposit on Pikelet's blood transfusion (personal loan)
LEGAL AND BUSINESS FEES for LOP CHARITY LAW
- $25,000. This is what we have been quoted and it's based on the intricate structure of Life of Pikelet which was established originally as a social media blog. We have tried to work this quote through to figure out if we can do some things ourselves, but it just isn't possible. Having a leading Charity Law firm to get LoP sorted out for full DGR and Charity Status will benefit this rescue longterm.
Organizer
