Linus Needs a Christmas Miracle

{Sorry for dropping off the face of the earth again, jury duty totally messed up my routine. I'll get myself sorted out and be back next week starting with the ins and outs of my recent jury service. In the meantime, I have my very first guest blogger, Julie to share the story of a very special puppy.}

Pup Squad Animal Rescue took Linus in at a week old after someone left him and two siblings on the front step of BARC in a dirty birdcage. (One of his siblings, Lucy, is up for adoption and sadly the other pup didn't make it through the first night.) Linus was bottle fed round-the-clock by a Pup Squad foster and once he was able to eat on his own moved on to his next foster home with his sister. Linus tired out easily and had "funny" breathing so we had him checked out a he was diagnosed with a heart murmur. We did an ultrasound and Dr. May asked if we could wait and do another more in depth ultrasound to be sure we knew exactly what was going on. Linus had his second ultrasound yesterday and this is when we got his Pulmonic Stenosis diagnosis. Basically one of the valves in his heart is constricted and as he grows the heart will have to continue to work harder and harder to push the needed amount of blood through the valve. The vet has given him 6 - 8 months to live unless we can get him in at Texas A&M for an Aortic (Balloon) Valvuloplasty. This is where they go in and inflate a tiny balloon in that valve in an effort to stretch it permanently. This would most likely give Linus a healthy heart and he would be able to live a normal life.

This little guy was left for dead in a filthy birdcage without his momma at a week old...his eyes weren't even open! Can you imagine how hard he has fought to be here? Linus WANTS to be here, can you help us keep him here? All he wants for Christmas is a Balloon Valvuloplasty with a price tag around $3,000. If you can help please go to www.pupsquad.org and click on donate. Make sure to put "Linus" in the comments section. Every little bit helps.

Julie

{Lucy and Linus are pretty special to me since I picked them up the day they arrived at the shelter in their nasty birdcage. Those poor puppies smelled so bad my car reeked for three days and Lucy screamed bloody murder the whole way to her first foster. I took her out of the crate and put her in my lap where she continued to express her outrage at being dirty, cold and hungry. We knew right away she was feisty and Linus is definitely a fighter. The fact that he survived at all is a miracle. Now all we need is one more miracle.}