Teddy needs a heart operation or he's got less than 6 months

Please help us fix Teddy’s heart!

This is Teddy. He’s a 7-year-old chiweenie (a chihuahua and dachshund mix) with the gentlest soul, the biggest eyes, and the kind of love that wraps around your heart and never lets go. He turns 8 in June — we hope he makes it that far.

When we first adopted Teddy, he was very timid, and scared of everyone around him. He always slept curled up into a ball, never relaxed, and didn't even know how to play. Our poodle, Milo, always made room for him, gave him his food, his bed, and allowed us to give Teddy the attention and care that he had obviously been lacking throughout the first 2 years of his life. Milo must have known that Teddy needed a good home. Now, Teddy's vibrant personality shines through him every day, and him and Milo are the best brothers that they could be.

In June 2024, when we noticed Teddy was coughing more than normal, we took him to the vet, who examined him and discovered a heart murmur. We were referred to an animal hospital in November 2024, where he had an echocardiogram, a CT scan, bloods were taken, and he was examined. Then our world changed when Teddy was diagnosed with grade B2 mitral valve disease—a condition where one of the heart’s valves (the mitral valve) weakens and stops closing properly. Over time, this puts tremendous strain on the heart, causing blood to flow backwards into the heart chamber, it causes the heart to enlarge and work overtime just to keep the blood flowing. In short: his heart is slowly failing. This information was difficult to process as we had to come to terms with the fact that our healthy, happy dog could die within a year. At this point, half of our insurance was used up - we weren't prepared for this.

Since his diagnosis, Teddy has already been rushed to emergency care three times for an approximate 4 night stay for heart failure, once in February, once in April (diagnosed stage C), and the most recent one in May where he progressed to the final stage, stage D. (We just picked him up today, May 9th). When he has heart failure, fluid builds up around his lungs and he struggles just to breathe. The first emergency care admission drained the other half of our insurance. Watching him fight for each breath during the 20 minute car journey to emergency care has been one of the most helpless experiences of our lives. They had to administer a sedative to calm him down, place him in an oxygen chamber, and give him IV furosemide to remove the fluid that had built up around his heart.

We were told that many dogs don't make it out of the emergency care, Teddy once again proved his strength and resilience.

Right now, we’ve been told that he has less than 6 months left to live, and his decline with heart failure happens very quickly. We don't have much warning and the only way to monitor him is by counting his breathing rate per minute. This weeks hospital stay has seen Teddy diagnosed with stage D of his mitral valve disease. He's now taking turesomide to keep the fluid from building up in his lungs, as the furosemide no longer works. This happens at the last stage of this disease. The cardiologist has said that he has "kidneys of steel" so he he's a very fit dog in every other way! This consumes us every day, the constant worry of having to monitor his breathing rate and not to mention the coughs that go with this disease.

But there’s hope.

There’s a surgery available, at the Royal Veterinary College (RVC) in London, that can repair his mitral valve—a specialized procedure that could give Teddy many more happy, healthy years of life, but it comes at a cost of around £25,000, and it’s not something we can do alone. The cardiologist has made the referral and we will hear back within the month. He could have his life saving operation this summer.

That’s why we are reaching for your help.

Your donation, no matter the amount, will go directly towards covering the cost of Teddy’s life-saving heart surgery, consultations and ongoing veterinary care. You won’t just be giving money—you’ll be giving more tail wags, more cuddles, more birthdays, and a chance for Teddy to grow old surrounded by the people who love him most.

Teddy is more than a pet—he’s our family, our little shadow, our best friend. Please, if you can, help us give him the future he so deserves.

Thankyou for reading, for caring, and for being a part of Teddy's story ❤️