Murphy’s Hydrocephalus

Hi! I’m Kacey, and I have a miniature dachshund called Murphy

Murphy is 5 months old and came home with us on April 4th 2024. He was such a happy, healthy pup!

However on 12th June, I knew something wasn’t right with my little boy. He was walking really hunched, and screamed whenever I picked him up. After an emergency visit to the vets they thought it was a neck sprain so gave him an injection and medication. However the following day, once the injections had worn off, he started to get so much worse. He woke up screaming in pain and wouldn’t eat or drink anything that morning. I rushed him back to the vets and they referred us to a specialist straight away.

They did an MRI scan, and we had a horrible call to tell us that Murphy had something called ‘acquired hydrocephalus’ and he’d more than likely need brain surgery. I just couldn’t believe this was happening to my baby boy. Murphy spent a couple of nights with the specialists and he was on steroids and other medication, however they said it wasn’t working as they would like. We had two options - put him to sleep, or go for the brain surgery. I didn’t even think once about putting him to sleep, there was no way I was going to consider that knowing that my precious boy had a chance of a long, happy life. He’s only 5 months old and just the sweetest pup. They explained that this surgery is extremely high risk as its brain surgery, so there’s a high chance of complications. Murphy needed a shunt in his brain because of the amount of abnormal fluid that was in his brain. Any breed can get acquired hydrocephalus, at any age!

Murphy had the brain surgery on Tuesday 18th June 2024. It took 6 hours! Luckily there were no complications, however there is still a chance he could have complications in the future

The bill for the surgery, MRI and overnight stays is about £16k - luckily I have insurance! It’ll help to go towards Murphy’s checkups and also if there’s extra I will be putting into an a savings account for Murphy, as unfortunately there is a chance of complications. We don’t have an exact target, anything would help! however please don’t feel like you have to donate.. even reading this means so much, and if your dog isn’t themselves then just trust your gut instinct and take them to the vets as they really are the most precious things on this earth.

Thank you so much for reading