Heidi - a life interrupted
March 31, 2007 – June 12, 2007




Heidi was a small 10 week old puppy when she came into rescue on May 31st, 2007. She was surrendered by her owner to a shelter in southern CO. The owners told the shelter that they were being deployed and needed to surrender their puppy.

Heidi however had a problem she had a heart murmur, the shelter’s vet graded it at a 3 to 4 grade murmur, and the shelter felt that they would not, good conscience, be able to adopt her out. The shelter manager called Rita of Colorado/Wyoming Vizsla Rescue Group, Inc. and asked if we wanted to take her. We discussed it and decided to take her. We would have our vets check her out and possibly do further testing to determine if she would be able to be adopted.

A volunteer picked her up at the shelter the very next day and she made her way up to Rita’s house. She had more against her than just her heart murmur, which everyone of our volunteers who handled her could see. She was malnourished and dehydrated.

We decided that she would go to KS with Polly and have our vets there check her out. Polly decided to wait at least a week before taking her to the vet to give her a chance to recover from all her travels and be just a normal puppy. After about a week, in which Heidi played, gained weight, and seemed to be getting better. Polly took her to the vet where she was determined to have at least a grade 4-5 heart murmur. We had x-rays taken and we saw Heidi’s heart was severely enlarged. There was barely ¼” of space between her rib cage and heart on one side, and no space on the other. She could have died from a simple playful shove in her rib cage from another dog. No hope could be given that she could tolerate any surgery. She could live 1 year or 1 day, the end could be sudden or could be a slow and horrible process of not being able to breath.

Heidi was a sweet and lovable puppy who deserved better. She deserved a long and happy life, she didn’t deserve a slow suffering death, so I helped her cross over The Rainbow Bridge, I held her until she was gone. Heidi touched my heart more then most of the rescues I deal with, not because she was a puppy, but because she was a victim of the worst type of abuse, POOR BREEDING & GREED. She never had a chance, someone took that from her when they decided to breed, her heart murmur involved the aortic valve, a defect in the lines that were used to produce the litter she came from. Her condition is known as a Train Track Heart murmur, it is inherited, her parents maybe don’t have it, but a dog in her lines did carry the gene that causes it. Heidi is an example of why people should not breed when they care little or know nothing about the breed, she is a life interrupted due to GREED! Run free sweet Heidi, I’ll see you at the bridge some day! Polly