❤️ Medical Update: Surgery Is No Longer an Option for Gurdy Girl After Gurdy’s CT scan and full review with her cardiology team, we received heartbreaking news: surgery is no longer a safe or viable option, neither balloon valvuloplasty nor open-heart surgery. We fought hard hoping there would be a surgical fix. Unfortunately, her specialists determined that the risks are too severe and the outcome would almost certainly not be survivable. 

 What Her Doctors Found: 

Gurdy’s condition is more complex than originally believed:

 • Atrial fibrillation (A-fib): This causes chaotic heart rhythm and severe blood backflow. Even if the valve could be widened, the backflow would continue and her heart would still fail.

 • Severe right-side heart enlargement and thickening: Her heart has been under prolonged strain. Because of this, anesthesia alone carries a high risk of cardiac arrest during any major procedure. 

• Abnormal artery placement: Her CT revealed a major vessel wrapped around the right ventricle in the exact area surgeons would need to access making surgical entry unsafe. Because of these combined factors, her cardiology team advised that surgery would very likely be fatal and would not correct the underlying progression of her disease. Choosing not to operate was not giving up, it was choosing her safety. 

What This Means Now:

Since surgery is not possible, Gurdy’s treatment has shifted to long-term intensive cardiac management and comfort care. Her care needs are ongoing and specialized, including:

 • Frequent abdominal fluid drainage

 • Continuous medication adjustments

 • Repeat echocardiograms and ultrasounds 

• A-fib and heart failure monitoring 

• Emergency visits when symptoms worsen which is atleast once a week :( 

• Close comfort management at home between appointments Cardiology visits range from $600–$1,700 per visit, depending on imaging and drainage needs. Until recent medication adjustments, she required procedures every 3-5 days. Each trip is hours away and takes most or all of a day, often requiring missed work and travel costs in addition to medical bills. 

 How We Got Here:

 Gurdy is only 11 months old (turned a year in January ),still a puppy, and was diagnosed with severe pulmonic stenosis and right-sided heart failure after rapid fluid buildup and emergency evaluations. In just over two weeks, she has had over 8–10 liters of fluid drained. Her blood work has remained steady and normal, which is encouraging, but structurally her heart disease is advanced and progressive. Pet insurance will not cover her condition because it is congenital. 

 We’re Still Fighting — Just Differently Even without a surgical path, we are committed to giving Gurdy the best quality of life and as much time as possible through specialist care and monitoring. She is still wagging her little nub. Still giving bulldog smiles. Still delivering her famous nuggles. Still fighting — and so are we.

 How You Can Help Donations help cover: • Ongoing cardiology and specialty visits • Fluid drainage procedures 

• Medications and monitoring 

• Imaging and diagnostics 

• Emergency care 

• Travel to specialty hospital Donations can also be made directly to her long-term care account at Hannah pet hospital or the OSU Veterinary Teaching Hospital under: Gertrude (Gurdy) Struever — Shauna Struever 

 If you are unable to donate, sharing her story truly helps.

 From Our Family: 

We never imagined we would be here, asking for help to manage lifelong cardiac care for our sweet girl. But Gurdy is family. She is love, comfort, chaos, and joy wrapped into one stubborn, snuggly bulldog body. Thank you for standing with her and with us. With gratitude, The Struever Family