A disabled pet has been denied a special medical exemption to travel inside a plane cabin to receive urgent treatment despite her owners warning if she travels in the bagging hold she could die.
Dottie is a pedigree Griffon based in Christchurch, who despite being almost three years old looks like a four-month-old puppy weighing only 2kg.
This is because Dottie suffers from a long list of medical conditions, including extreme dwarfism, and needs medical care in Auckland to help save her life.
"Our options are we can do nothing and hope for a year out of her or we can be proactive and take her for extra tests and get all these specialists involved. We have chosen the latter," Dottie's owner Casey Walters said.
In order for Dottie to receive a full diagnosis to determine a surgical plan, she needs a special MRI scan as well as supervision by the country's only canine neurologist, both of which are only available at the Animal Referral Centre in Auckland.
Both Dottie's vet in Christchurch and her US-based surgeon, who is an internationally renowned neurology specialist, have advised that Dottie should travel to her appointment in the plane cabin due to medical risks and her being too fragile to travel by car for an over 16-hour drive.
Dottie can not be left unsupervised in case she has a seizure and her surgeon said if she was to travel in the cargo area she could experience respiratory distress, seizures, paralysis or death.
"She could literally snap her neck," Walters said.
But Air NZ only allows certified service dogs to travel in plane cabins - all other pets must fly as checked-in baggage in a carrier in the aircraft's hold.
Walters and her partner have tried countless ways to get in touch with Air NZ in the hope of being granted a medical exemption
"It's been really hard. I have emailed every email I possibly can, getting to the point of going on Linkedin and looking at people that work there," Walters said. "It has been two weeks and there has been nothing."
She said when she would contact customer service they would give her a blanket 'no' answer.
"It's really hard to actually get a response from anybody," Walters says. "It's such a huge organisation you just keep getting passed on to different people."
An Air NZ spokesperson told Newshub Dottie is unable to travel onboard with her family.
"While we really sympathise with our customer's situation, Air New Zealand only permits recognised service dogs in the cabin," the spokesperson said.
"Taking other pets in our cabin could potentially jeopardise the welfare of the pet, while service dogs are trained to remain calm and controlled in different and stressful environments. Keeping pets in the cargo hold is the safest option."
"We wish Dottie the best for her surgery and recovery."
Walters says Dottie was a certified Canine Friends Pet Therapy dog before she fell ill, which means she has undergone testing to make sure she is fine in environments with lots of people.
Walters said they are just asking for a one hour flight for a medical reason so their dog's life can be improved overall.
"We adore her and just feel we need to do all we can to try to make her feel well again."
Alongside being a beloved pet, Dottie has become a role model for disabled dogs with a pet Instagram called Dottie the Dwarf, which documents the her medical journey to almost 50,000 followers.
Walters posted on Dottie's account expressing her frustrations with the situation on Tuesday night.
The post received numerous comments tagging Air NZ to grant Dottie an exemption.
Walters said she has since received a call from an Air NZ manager asking her questions including whether she could have a vet fly onboard with Dottie to gather further information on the situation to send to another Air NZ staff member in the hopes of getting Dottie an exemption - although there have been no promises yet.
