Chowder’s heart journey ❤️‍

Hi. My name is Chowder. I’m a 2.5 year old French bulldog that lives in Florida. I was born with several heart conditions, including severe pulmonic stenosis, tricuspid regurgitation, and a small ventricular septal defect (amongst other non cardiac things). When I was 6 months old my mom flew me to Colorado to meet the awesome veterinary cardiologists at CSU. There I underwent a contrast CT/angiogram, followed by a balloon valvuloplasty and a titanium pulmonic stent placement in May 2023.

Unfortunately, on a recent recheck last month with my cardiologist in Florida, my pulmonic stenosis was severe again, and I was told I was at risk of going into right-sided heart failure at any time. This could be due to needing a larger stent size, or it could be due to tissue growing into the lumen (inside) of my previous stent, resulting in the worsened narrowing. Luckily, my mom loves me a whole heck of a lot! She took time off work and flew me back to Colorado and CSU last week, and I underwent another contrast CT on Tuesday 6/3 and then, 48 hours later on Thursday 6/5, I will undergo a new stent placement.

My mom spends a lot on me. She is only paid when she works, and we took a plane to get to Denver, a bus to get to Fort Collins, and then various Ubers to and from the vet school and where we are staying the 11 days we are here. Though my pet insurance will cover a chunk of my vet care, it’s the life expenses that are piling up with the missed work, travel, lodging, groceries here, medical copayments, and paying for someone to watch my furry brothers and sisters back at home in Florida. And of course, this all happened after my mom’s 8.5-year-old Jeep needed a lot of work the past 2 months, and after Hurricane Milton home expenses from last Fall. Life, right?! Luckily for me, my mom loves me so much and says, “this is why credit cards exist,” but still, anything would help limit her stress. She’s always been good at helping others!

Oh - and if you could say a prayer or spread some hope/hugs/good karma on Thursday 6/5 - it would mean a lot, as my super veterinary cardiologist will be attempting a second stent that needs to be placed VERY exact to help me.

❤️‍ Chowder ❤️‍