Lindsay - a dog desperately needing life changing surgery

Bred to be a racing dog, little Lindsay is a sweet and intelligent girl, with loads of personality. She is always having fun being happy, and loves things every puppy does, like exploring, playing and cuddling.

But Lindsay isn't like every other puppy.

At 9 weeks old, she became extremely unwell and was displaying neurological symptoms. Testing confirmed she had a congenital defect - a liver shunt. Rare in larger breeds, even rarer in sight hounds, it almost certainly going to be the more complex type, an intra-hepatic shunt (this can only be confirmed with imaging). This means she has a blood vessel inside her liver that is not closed as it should be, and so the liver is unable to filter toxins effectively before they reach her bloodstream. These toxins build up without medical management, and you are left with a very, very sick puppy.

A liver shunt reduces a dog's lifespan dramatically - without surgery, Lindsay's life expectancy is anywhere from 1 to 3 years of age. She requires a special diet (very strict), medications and supplements, and every worming, flea treatment or other medication, puts her liver under pressure. At any time she could 'crash', where her liver is overwhelmed, and she must be hospitalised for treatment.

Lindsay needs to have a CT scan to get a proper view of the shunt, and then specialist surgery by one of the few surgeons in Australia who perform corrective surgery on the intra-hepatic type.

As the liver processes everything put into the body, anesthesia is something needed to be done as minimally as possible, therefore her specialist surgeon will CT scan her, and then go straight into surgery, rather than do it on seperate occasions as this will be stressful on her little body. She will begin anti-seizure medications a week prior to this anesthetic to minimise risk of intra-operative or postoperative seizures, which would be life threatening.

The surgery is a big deal, but every dog deserves the very best chance at a long and healthy life, and that is what we want to give her - a long happy life without ill health. This surgery can, and will, change her life!

Please help Lindsay

We need to raise at least $5,000 to give Lindsay this life changing surgery.

The specialist surgeon has generously offered our charity a reduced price on her CT scan and surgery, but that is still a big $4,500 price, without any complications. In the meantime, her daily food and medications cost around $14 a day, and this will continue after surgery for a while as the liver gets stronger. There will also be the cost of the anti-seizure medications for at least 2 weeks.

Can you help Lindsay?

Lindsay wants to thank those who help her.

Please leave a mailing address so that Lindsay can send you a special Thank You ♡

Donations of $2.00 and more are tax deductible and Chuffed will automatically send you a receipt for tax purposes.

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Lindsay is now 22 weeks old and doing well, gaining weight well and learning how to be a house dog with ease. She's a wonderful girl - intelligent and ever so sweet! She is super friendly and a very special girl. We are currently at $3,720 raised, so a bit to go yet but we are definitely getting there! We are all very grateful - so here are some new pics!

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A huge, huge Thank You to Hill's Pet Nutrition for donation a whole pallet of Liver Care Prescription dry food - the special food Lindsay needs to eat. They sent us 38 x 7.98kg bags! How kind is that?!

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