02/11/2026
So I have some news I want to share with our latest little singleton girl. Transparency is really important to me and I also found this to be a great opportunity to learn so I’m sharing for that reason as well.
On her first vet visit at 6 weeks, all was well. However at her 9 week checkup our vet found a very serious heart murmur. There’s a condition in puppies called patent ductus arteriosis and that’s what we were pretty sure she had. You can read a lot of info online but basically it’s a heritable condition that results in a hole in the heart. This condition is treatable with an exponentially expensive surgery. As far as the genetics go, this is not a condition that has an available test, the science just is not there yet unfortunately. What we do know is that it’s recessive and these two dogs (Moon and Loki) can not and will not ever be bred together again.
Our sweet baby girl went in for her surgery first thing this morning at Auburns teaching hospital and the surgery was a success! We are not fully out of the woods but if she recovers without any issues she will live a fairly normal life. I’m beyond grateful for the folks at Auburn who have taken such amazing care of her. I’ll get to bring her home tomorrow and she will need strict rest for 6-8 weeks but I’m just so happy she’s going to be okay.
Things like this are why we always have veterinary check ups before puppies go home and I’m so glad we caught this before she left. Wish us the best in her recovery 🥰
