Lillie needs an MRI and Surgery to fix her lumbar disc.
Stanmore Bay, Whangaparaoa
Lillie is my baby, this is really hard for me and my wife. We noticed she was getting hesitant with stairs a couple of weeks ago, and got her seen by a vet, and were looking to get an xray done, however she deteriorated today (October 21st) and seemed to stop being able to use her rear back leg properly, it was buckling under her weight and she wasn't always placing it correctly when walking and when she was trying to go toilet actually fell over which was horrible to see.
We rushed her to our vet and were told that she has a 'partial prolapsed lumbar disc' and she needs to be seen by a specialist and have surgery asap.
We were told that if it's left it could result in her being paralyzed, which is really horrible to consider.
We've booked a specialist appointment tomorrow at ARC in Freeman's Bay the consult being $360 and are told that she will need blood test and most likely an MRI (between $5,000-$7,000) and that's before even surgery begins which we find out the price for tomorrow.
I'm lost for words, its really hard to look at Lillie and think this is happening to my baby. And how it feels really unfair, her and our Jack Russell Dottie are our babies as we weren't able to have kids together, trying for about 10 years.
Sob story aside, it really leaves you feeling like a failure as a dog parent, and really makes you wish you'd done insurance when she was a pup...stupid us.
I'll be updating this further as we learn more about what's ahead of us and poor Lillie.
Specialist consult costs, MRI costs, Surgery costs.
Morning - Oct 22 22 October 2026
Lillie seems to have lost more capabilities in her back legs sadly :( we've moved her appt with the neurology team up to 945am this morning. My poor girl. Spent the night trying to keep her comfortable and still, not easy with this character, she always wants to move about and be my shadow, so I found myself sleeping in the dining room next to her. Praying for something in the neighborhood of positive at 945am.
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