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The Heart Murmur Repair Bichons Reunion Page
(The Midi Playing is "My
Heart Will
Go On")
Small Paws® Rescue has been blessed
over the
years, to be able to save the
lives of several
Bichons who were all born in
commercial kennels
in Mo. with severe PDA heart
murmurs. All
were critical then but after
surgery they
are now normal Bichons with normal
life spans!
The mortality rate is THAT 1
out of 100 do
not make it...but that means
that 99 out
of 100 DO make it!
Here they are...Thanks to all
of you...I
now give you...the Heart Murmur
Repair Bichons!
1. Meet BUNGEE, our FIRST heart
murmur repair!!
Bungee is now owned and loved
by Small Paws®
volunteers, Sandy and Jim Sowell
at LitlSybil@aol.com.
(I got to hold him last summer
at the Southern
Ca Bichon Bash!)
 
Bungee before .....................Bungee
is all well now
Small Paws® Rescue: Bungee's Heart
"Bungee was the first Small
Paws Rescue
fluff to go to Texas A &
M for surgery.
He's now almost two years old
and the world
would have been a sorrier place
without this
dear little fellow. He is everybody's
friend.
He never has a bad day, nor does
he have
a mean bone in his body. He wakes
up happy
and goes to bed happy. He should
wear a big
sign that says, for a good time,
call Bungee.
He still goes up and down like
he's attached
to a bungee cord and his humom
and hudad
will never forget all the people
who donated
their money, their love, and
their prayers
so that he could live."
2. Meet "Toby"! (Formerly "Rolex")
Toby is now owned and loved by Rebecca at
RLMades@mediaone.net.
 
Rolex/Toby before...Toby all
well today!
Small Paws® Rescue: The Designer Bichons
"Sir Toby is not a terribly
cooperative
photo subject anyway. He'll ALLOW
it if he's
lying down. If he's up and perky,
he wants
to investigate the camera. Silly
little flufferbutt.
For the record, he's quite a
TALL Bichon
and is a slender 17#s. I keep
waiting for his adult coat to
fill in completely.
Right now, he's kind of half
straight &
half kinky. But he's always 100%
wonderful!"
Rebecca
3. Meet "Georgie", formerlly "Chanel"!
Georgie is now owned and loved by Small Paws®
Rescue volunteers, Sharon and Erik Krask
at shrkrask@attbi.com. I have since gotten
to see Georgie again and she is just just
beautiful!
 
Here she is right after rescue....
and at
home, all well,today!
Small Paws® Rescue: The Designer Bichons
"She does not like her picture
taken
(unlike Mr. Widget!)...so we
will see. Georgie
is now two years old and will
always look
like a puppy. She had not one
but two heart
surgeries....Auntie Robin took
her to Texas
A & M in late summer of 2000
for her
first PDA coil placement. In
December, our
local cardiologist detected a
"leak".
Eric immediately flew Georgie
(and her stuffed
bunny) back to College Station
in the middle
of a Texas ice storm for her
second coil
placement at A & M. (This
usually only
happens in 1 out of 200 cases).
She is now
100% leak free!
In March of 2001, the little
tyke had bilateral
medial luxating patella surgery.
This was
much harder on her than the less
invasive
heart procedures. Her was not
a happy camper
for six weeks. Now she runs and
jumps like
a normal puppy! Our little Georgie
was truly
last in line for healthy body
parts but first
in line for the soul of an angel.
Oh, and
by the way, have I mentioned
that she is
sooooo smart? The five of us,
Eric, Sharon,
Zoe, Sachi and Binky adore her."
4. Meet Came! Cameo is now owned and loved
by Small Paws® Rescue volunteers, Steve and
Andra Heitzman at SHEITZMAN@aol.com.
 
Small Paws® Rescue:Baby Cameo Needs Heart
Surgery
"Cameo arrived at Small
Paw's "door"
in October, 2001 with a grade
5 heart murmur.
Doctors at Texas A&M University
Vet School
tried to correct the hole with
a coil technique
procedure, but her little veins
were just
too small, so on October 22 the
doctors "cracked
open" her chest and repaired
the hole!
We had just come home from vacation
when
I "read" about Cameo--I
contacted
Robin right away--I KNEW this
baby needed
to stay in Texas! Three days
later Cameo
came home to live with us in
Houston. Her
"big sister", Maggie
was soooo
excited to meet her, but not
as excited as
Cameo!! The two bonded instantly
and are
never very far from each other.
Cameo is
now 6 months old and bounces
everywhere.
She is 10 pounds of tounge, fur
and wagging
tail!" Andra
5. Meet Pearl! Pearl was an adult
puppy mill
rescue with a severe PDA heart
murmur AND
heartworms to boot! She is now
owned and
loved by Small Paws® Rescue volunteer.
Karen
Franklin at littlebit@hubserv.com.
 
Then......and now!
Small Paws® Rescue: Pearl's Heartlight
Pearl's coil repair was done
at Louisianna
State University.
"Miss Pearl came to me a
while back
with a grade VI heart murmur,
heart worms,
a hernia, and very bad teeth..The
first thing
I did after my vet examined her
was to take
her to LSU to see if they could
correct her
heart problem..
Fortunately it was a PDA which
is fixable
and almost unheard of in an adult
dog...Pearl
was three years old and this
type of heart
problem usually is fatal if not
corrected
while the dog is a pup..this
is part of the
reason we call Miss Pearl a Miracle..God's
little miracle..
The doctors told me up front
she may not
survive the surgery..In her case
it was cracking
the chest and doing open heart
surgery..but
I knew she would die without
it so we had
to try..Small Paws® raised the
money for her
surgery in twenty four hours...
Well..I took Pearl in for her
surgery and
left in tears..I had only know
her for a
few days, but she stole my heart...the
doctors
told me that would call me that
evening and
let me know how it went..I was
three hours
away so I had to go home to take
care of
all my other dogs..
Well the doctor called that evening
and said
everything went remarkably well..she
came
through the surgery with flying
colors and
could possibly come home in several
days..
To my surprise the doctor called
the next
day and said she was walking
around, eating
and drinking and could go home
the next morning..I
was on cloud nine hearing this
news..I went
the next day to pick her up and
she could
breath and walk around without
loosing her
breath and becoming exhausted
immediately..when
I got her home I couldn't keep
her still..you
would never know she had open
heart surgery
two days before.
Well several weeks later she
began her heart
worm treatment..I was terrified
that this
would be fatal also..she had
severe heart
worms and that is one of the
reasons it was
a miracle she came through the
surgery...and
I should't have been surprised
that she came
through the treatment without
any complications
at all...and was clear in four
weeks.
Now we had to wait two more weeks
to spay
her and repair her hernia which
she breezed
through like nothing was ever
done to her..and
two weeks after that we did a
dental and
after we got all the tartar off
her teeth
her teeth were beautiful..all
of them..
Pearl is still a little skiddish
and very
small..only 9 lbs...and she is
one of the
biggest joys of my life..when
I come home
from being away from the house
she jumps
up and down and appears to clap
her hands
she is so excited to see me..she
is truly
a miracle...and I hope to have
her in my
life for a very long time.."
Pearl's Mom....Karen
6. Meet "Hammie"! Hammie is now
owned and loved by Dr. Cynthia Ragsdale at
rasdalec@aol.com.
 
Hammie and Smidgie. ..........Hammie and Smidgie at 8 mos.
Small Paws® Rescue: Hammie's Heart
Hamlet ("Hammie")
Born 8/28/2001 in a Missouri
Puppy Mill,
rescued by Small Paws®, taken
to Texas A&M
on 11/13/2001. Diagnosis Pulmonic
Stenosis
(PS) Severe Grade 5/6 Heart Murmur.
(This
one was different than the normal
PDA heart
murmurs.) Hammie would not have
lived without
surgery.
"Hammie traveled to Texas
A&M with
Itsy Bitsy Smidgen (born 8/9/01),
who was
going to her adoptive home (ME),
another
Missouri Puppy Mill Rescue who
was so tiny
the Mill intended to use her
to "breed
small puppies." Hammie and
Smidgie bonded
in transport with "Aunt
Robin"
and Hammie cried every time he
was separated
from Smidgie. Upon diagnosis,
Hammie was
underweight for surgery. When
Hammie was
held, you could feel the "butterfly"
in his heart. Because of the
bonding between
the two, concern from the stress
of separation,
the need for Hammie to reach
four pounds
in weight for surgery, the need
for monitoring
for the rest of his life, and
nearness to
Texas A&M by Smidgie's adoptive
Mom,
Hammie was fostered and then
adopted along
with Smidgie. Hammie successfully
underwent
two balloon valvuloplasty procedures
to relieve
the obstruction caused by his
severe Pulmonic
Stenosis on 11/29/01 by the top
Cardiologist
in the country, Dr. Matthew Miller,
who devised
this cardiology surgery.
Hammie takes Atenolol twice daily
to regulate
his heartbeat and requires heartbeat
monitoring
daily. He will always have a
Heart Murmur
but now has a normal life expectancy
due
to his surgery. Because of his
rescue by
Small Paws®, and the support of
this AWESOME
GROUP who provided his surgery,
he is now
a happy, almost healthy pup.
But there is
something else that needs to
be known in
his survival and current happiness,
and that
is his bond with Smidgie and
the relationship
between "All God's Creatures,
both Great
and Small."
There is a bond between Hammie
and Smidgie
that has helped his healing in
being a happy
puppy who will always be fragile
with a heart
murmur, as well as her healing
from initial
neglect. Small Paws® and I provided
their
chances for life, but the ultimate
healing
occurred between the love shared
by the two
puppies in an atmosphere where
they could
love each other and be happy
after their
terrible beginnings! I believe
a rescued
abused, neglected baby or adult
baby has
special needs that can be fostered
and healed.
In Rescue, lives are touched
of both the
Human Angel and the Rescued Animal
Baby by
the Human Angel or another Animal
Angel,
already in the family, or adopted
at the
same time......bonding and love
heal bodies,
spirits, souls and hearts........
there
is a bond between all of God's
Creatures,
Both Great and Small.
Please let me take this moment
to thank you
for your support to Small Paws®!
Know that
you are blessed and by being
a member of
Small Paws®, you are making a
difference in
a very special way! I am so proud
to be a
member of Small Paws®! And most
of all, I
am so happy to have two "Special
Needs"
BABIES in my life who are giving
me so many
SMILES!!!! I love every moment
with Smidgie
and Hammie from chewed sheetrock
to licks
and kisses!!!!!"
Cy
7. Meet Marcie! Marcie is now owned and loved
by Ginger, BabyandMarcy@cs.com, and her other precious Bichon, Baby.
 
Marcie before surgery. Ginger,
Baby, and
Marcie today.
(Marcie is on the right).
Small Paws® Rescue:Marcie's Heart
Marcie became world famous when Animal Planet
covered her heart Murmur surgery!
Small Paws® Rescue: Animal Planet!
Bio: (Dictated by Miss Marcy HERSELF) "The
first four months of my life were kind of
scarey and confusing. There were lots of
other dogs who didn't look like they were
having any fun at all. It was just so hot
and dirty and not much food and no one seemed
to care about us at all. Then some nice people
came and took me away and said I was going
to have a "real life". They took
me to a nice place where it was cool and
the food was really good and they gave me
lots of cuddles, but I really didn't feel
good at all. I was coughing a lot and had
a hard time breathing and just felt really
terrible. Then they took me to another scarey
place that was really clean and smelled funny.
I didn't think I liked it very much there
and was afraid they were going to leave me
there. But the people there were very nice
to me and let me have a nice long nap. After
I woke up from my nap, it was so strange,
because all of a sudden I felt like a real
puppy. I wanted to get up and run around
and chase my tail and chew on stuff and jump
up and give kisses. Then the first nice people
came and took me back again and I lived for
awhile at Dr. McKinney's office. The weather
turned real cold and there was this "snow"
stuff and then this really nice lady came
and took me on a airplane to a place called
California. This nice lady turned out to
be my forever Mommy and she already had a
big sister for me to play with there. Since
December 15, 2000, until now, I have become
a "real puppy" and of course, the
mini-boss (right below Baby in rank) of our
house. My most favorite thing in the whole
entire world is to seek and destroy my Mommy's
undies. She tries to hide them from me but
I always manage to get them anyway. She has
to get up pretty early in the morning to
fool me! My sister Baby just wuvs me a lot,
only sometimes when I pester her too much
she "play growls" at me. Doesn't
scare me any though, cause I know she won't
really hurt me. She keeps telling me she's
too old to blitz around with me, but I won't
leave her alone until she give up and plays
with me. I'm also quite a little "Houdini"
and the baby gate or playpen hasn't been
invented that I can't get out of. Mom says
I've cost her a small fortune to replace
flexi-leashes that I've chewed through. Well,
all I can say is she shouldn't just leave
me standing there with one end of the darn
thing stuck in a drawer to keep me from doing
what comes naturally....ya know what I mean?
Let's see, I also like the taste of shoe
leather (particularly the Cole-Hahn kind)
and tissue-shredding is lots of fun too.
Books are good if there is nothing better,
but most of the time there is better stuff
around. I'm a world class blitzer and once
I've reached my top speed, don't even think
about catching me :-) Under the bed is a
great place to hide when Mom is trying to
get me to do something I'm not particularly
interested in at the moment. It's just high
enough for me to crawl under, but not enough
that she can get under it too :-) I just
love fresh fruits and veggies. One of my
favorites is fresh tomato, and I particularly
like that because Baby doesn't and I can
get all the treats for myself when Mom is
slicing tomatoes. We both like fresh broccoli
and little bites of fresh baby carrots. Actually,
there isn't much I won't eat, and that includes
deer poop. Wellllllllllll
I weighed just under 5 lbs when
Mommy took
me to California a little over
a year ago.
I'm now up to a big 11 pounds,
but still
quite petite. Especially, next
to Baby who
is just a big fatso at about
14 lbs. Whenever
we fly, Mommie always carries
me and lets
the other person carry Baby.
She says Baby
is too heavy for her to carry,
but I know
it's really because she loves
me the most.
She totally denies this and says
she love
both of us and always is real
careful to
give us both the same stuff and
even dares
to give it to Baby first, cause
she's the
oldest. But I know :-)
Other than some really troublesome
hot spots
last summer which we had a horrible
time
getting rid of, I'm a totally
happy, healthy,
rambunctiuos, life-loving PUPPY!
We moved
to Pittsburgh, PA. in October
2001 and I
really love to play in this snow
stuff too!
Mommie says we are going back
to California
next year, so I better enjoy
it while I can.
That's all for now, but I just
wanted everyone
who saw me on Animal Planet to
know that
I'm thriving and wonderful and
other than
still being a little afraid of
strangers
(only until I can check them
out a little)
I'm just a perfect little Bichon.
I'm not
afraid of any dogs though and
love to play
with the biggest and best of
them. My best
friend here is a big old Golden
Lab and he
just wuvs me sooooo much. I jump
up and kiss
his face and then roll over so
he can nibble
under my armpit. I just hold
my arm up so
he can get to it real easily.
He has pretty
bad arthritis, but I can still
get him to
chase me a little bit. Good ole
Honey Butch....what
a friend!
Big Kisses to Everyone from
Marcy
8. Meet baby Gershwin!
 
Small Paws® Rescue:Baby Gershwin's Heart
Gershwin is getting ready to go home to his
new Mom, Jeannie Rogers at rogersjkt@yahoo.com.
Gershwin has no idea anything was ever wrong..he
zooms nonstop now!
9. Grady with his new mama Louise
at Beeechcmbr@aol.com!
Come ready baby Grady's story...he
was so
cold..I did not think he would
make it to
surgery.
Small Paws® Rescue: Baby Grady's Heart
10. Powder has eyes that you
can see though.
He also had a heart murmur which was fixed
at Texas A& M.
Here is baby Powder with his
new Mama at
the airport, Debbie at debbie@knothole.net
!
11. Baby Cassie with her new Dad, Pat Border
at joanborders@aol.com.
Read Pat's account of their trip on the plane
to their home in Va.
12. Satchmo
Baby Satchmo's Heart
Satchmo was adopted by Cathy
Dirlam at CMDirlam@aol.com
13. Chevy
Chevy went to Texas AM, but was
sadly, Chevy
not a candidate for surgery at
that time.
He needs mitrovalve replacement
surgery but
as of now, this surgery is still
in the experimental
stages.
The cost would have been $7000.00-$8000.00
for an experimental surgery with
absolutely
no guarentees, as no dog has
survived this
surgery yet, at Texas A&M.
Chevy continues to do well today
without
surgery.
14. Sara Lee (as in nobody doesn't like!)
Sara Lee has been adopted!
15. June
10 Month old June June went to Texas A&M
and it was deternmined that she
had an "innocent"
heart murmur that did not need
surgery at
all!
UPDATE December 10, 2003
Dec. 10, 2003 Update!
Luckily Junie did not need surgery
for her
heart murmur, but she did go
into cardiac
arrest when she was spayed. She
was resuscitated
by the wonderful Dr. Russell
in Tulsa , She
remained in a coma for 2 days.
She was a
very sick little girl, but she
is great now.
She lives with her bichon buddy
Nash Rambler
and her new bichon siblings Magee
and Brittney
Belle with human Mom & Dad,
Colleen &
Leonard Butler at outnback@direcway.com.
She loves to chase Nash and Magee
and plays
until she is exhausted everyday.
She weighs
about 12 lbs now as compared
to 7.5 when
we picked her up with her life
buddy, Nash.
She takes very good care of Nash.
Every morning
and night she washes his face
and licks his
eyes. He is such a lovey bichon~~he
just
eats that up. I am so glad Bonnie
asked me
to "foster" June when
we went to
Tulsa to pick up Nash. At that
time, Junie
had a tremor and we did not know
if her eyesight
would be normal. I am so pleased
to report
that Junie's tremor has decreased
to hardly
anything at all and she has no
problem with
her eyesight. It has been a love
affair ever
since that day in Tulsa when
we brought them
home. Nash and June have been
a wonderful
addition to our family; even
the queen-bee
Bichon, Brittney Belle, (our
10 yr ) will
get into the act and join the
frolicking
that the younger kids do. Thank
you, Bonnie
and Robin for leading me into
this wonderful
adventure with you and the fluffs!!
Colleen Butler
16. Chipper
2 year old Chipper has been adopted!
11/20/03 UDPATE!
Subj: Up-date on Chipper for
Hear Murmer
Reunion Babies
Date: 11/20/2003 3:23:51 PM Central
Standard
Time
From: CRStoroof@aol.com
My name is Chipper. I was born
with a heart
murmur about three years ago.
For two and
a half years, I lived with the
heart murmur
and was very weak. Life was pretty
much food
and sleep. One day my owner was
taken away
and a stranger came and took
me far away.
I went from Naples, FL to Texas
A & M
for heart surgery. In 13 days
I lost my owner,
had a foster home, had a heart
operation,
and was flown to Raleigh, NC
to my new home.
I was one terrified puppy!!
I have now spent 5 months in
my new home,
or should I say, my new world.
Everyday is
a new adventure. I see, do, and
experience
things that are so much fun!
Because of my
heart operation, I now have huge
amounts
of energy to run, jump, and play.
To me life
is heaven every day. Now, my
new family wants
to tell you how they feel.
In July, we lost our Bichon,
Bangor, to cancer.
Bangor was not a dog but a true
member of
our family. When we left the
hospital and
knew he would not make it, we
sat in the
car and cried but thanked God
for letting
us share this special life.
For the next few days, Carolyn
cried and
realized how close she had been
to Bangor.
One day on her computer, she
looked up Bichons
and found Small Paws. Out of
sadness, she
scrolled through the photos of
the many Bichons
in Small Paws for rescue and
adoption. All
of a sudden as if God hit her
finger to stop,
there was a photo of a long legged
Bichon
that had survived a heart operation
- Chipper.
We looked at all the puppies
and something
continued to bring us back to
the photo of
this scared little Bichon. It
only took one
day and we knew God or our Bangor
or both,
had sent Chipped to us. (By the
way, our
Bangor was born with 3 paws and
the doctor
made him a pad for the forth
at birth.) Maybe
he was saying, Chipper is special.
He had
a heart problem, now it's fixed,
and he has
a strong heart full of love.
Chipper has been in our home
for 5 months
and what has happened is amazing.
From a
shy, frightened puppy, Chipper
has become
the life of the house. Everything
is new
to him. From a leaf blowing in
the breeze
to climbing stairs. When Chipper
first arrived,
you could hardly hold him, now
he rolls over
on his back and begs to play.
I believe he has rubbed every
square inch
of our home in Cary as well as
our beach
house. This is truly where he
considers home.
I mentioned we felt our Bangor
may have sent
Chipper. You be the judge. We
were told Chipper
liked to sleep under the bed.
Each night,
our other Bichon would get on
my wife's side
of the bed and go to sleep. During
the night,
he would move to the foot and
eventually
to my side. Five months into
our lives together,
Chipper goes to the same spot
and lays the
same way. He then moves in the
night to the
foot (same side) and winds up
on my side.
Is it a coincidence. You be the
judge.
All I can say is, God had touched
Small Paws
and because of that, Chipper
is our new family
member. Yes, we miss our Bangor,
but Chipper
has our hearts.
Van and Carolyn Starling
17. Nikki
Nikki had a grade six PDA that was repaired
at Texas A&M! Nikki has been adopted!
Number 18. Cherie.
Cherie was 12 weeks old when
her Grade 5
PDA Heart Murmur was repaired
at Texas A&M
University. She is 100% well
now! Cherie
was our 21st Heart Murmur Repair.
Number 19.
She is a happy healthy baby girl now, thanks
to all of you!
Daisy after surgery at home!
Baby Buffy, our 23rd Heart Murmur Repair!
Meet Buffy and her new Mom, Patty Shearer.
Buffy is going to be a little heart healer!
Number 24.
Meet 16 Month Old Kacey. She was recently
sold at this Amish Puppy Mill Auction.
They were trying to sell her to another puppy
mill to have more babies in this
condition.
She would have died if Small
Paws had not
intervened.
Meet 10 week old Lily. Lily came from Dallas
Texas and had a grade 5-6 PDA
heart murmur.
Texas A&M did her surgery
and put two
coils into her chest. Now she
has a new Mama
and a new life to live!
We attempted to save three other Bichons,
bringing the total number to twenty-three,
but sadly, three did not make it. Millie,
a five year old Puppy Mill rescue, (It was
a miracle she had lived to age five, and
sadly, she had several litters of puppies
in this condition.) died on the operating
table at Virginia Tech. Little tiny Stetson
died on the operating table at Texas A&M.
He was so very tiny (around one pound) and
so very sick. Mikey died after surgery on
Long Island, in New York City. Stetson, Millie,
and Mikey are now resting in the arms of
God..with perfect little hearts. Of this,
I have no doubt.")
Here are the three babies we
lost.
Precious Baby Stetson
Little Millie is the one in the
center, on
her Mom's (Nan) lap.
Millie was known as "Tabatha"
at
Small Paws® Rescue
Small Paws® Rescue: Bewitched
"Mikey" 4/30/02 - 9/12/02
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