Birch

We had some very hard news last week about little Birch. He had found a home but was returned to us after a significant heart murmur was found at his pre-adoption well-puppy check at his new vet. We took him to a vet cardiac specialist last Tuesday to get a diagnosis and determine a course of treatment. At the specialist's office he had an echocaridogram which revealed significant heart disease secondary to severe pulmonic stenosis. Unfortunately, this is not a condition that can be corrected medically or surgically-- there is no treatment that could have prevented Birch from suffering or allowed him to live a normal life. The wall of his right ventricle was already much larger than it should have been at the tender age of 3 months. Because of this, we made the very, very sad decision to euthanize Birch.

This type of congenital heart defect has a polygenic mode of inheritance. This basically means that while it is inherited in some way, there are so many factors that it is impossible to say for certain if any of the other puppies in the litter might be at risk for a similar heart defect. Luckily, ALL of the other puppies in the litter have been checked and NONE were found to have a murmur. Phew!

We are all very sad here about poor Birch, and so sorry that his new family had to experience this saddest side of dog rescue.