Hi everyone, I've never done anything like this before.  But I really need some advice from fellow husky owners who may have a similar experience.  I have a 3month old Siberian Husky, who I purchased from a breeder.  During routine vet visit for his puppy shots they detected a heart murmur.  I had him checked out by a cardiologist at NC State Vet Hospital and they diagnosed him with pretty severe pulmonic stenosis.  In normal situation he could get a Balloon valvuloplasty to clear the obstruction, but they suspect that he also has an abnormal coronary artery wrapping around the pulmonary artery which makes the balloon valvuloplasty dangerous.  So right now he's only on meds for medical management.  

Right now he seems fine, but I just wanted to see if anyone else had a similar experience and any advice. Since pulmonic stenosis is a congenital/genetic defect, I'm considering contacting the breeder I got him from to get my money back to help with his medical bills.  Does anyone has experience with this and any advice how to go about this?

Hi Sterling and welcome to the forum. I'm sorry to hear that your puppy has such a dangerous condition with his heart! I have never had a dog with a health problem that severe, but you should absolutely contact the breeder to let them know. Depending on the terms of the purchase (if there was a health guarantee) you might be entitled to something, but it really depends on your purchase contract. Any ethical breeder would have a health guarantee of some sort. Either way, you need to let the breeder know, so they can avoid this pairing in the future. Hopefully someone will chime in with experience related to the heart defect.

Since I too was completely ignorant of Pulmonic Stenosis I hopped on the web last evening after I saw this and again a bit this morning - as I'm sure you already have.

First, Jenn definitely has it right, you should talk to the breeder letting him know the diagnosis.  If you've dealt with a good breeder they should offer you some help.
Secondly, being the very blunt person that I am - and it's times like this that I *really* hate being me.  You have a dog who's, at the very least, going to have to live a quiet lifestyle with little stress - and we are talking about a Husky here, this is *not* a good definition.  The alternative is that said dog is very apt to develop congestive heart failure - and being blunt, it's all going to go downhilll from there.

From what I've read, the balloon angioplasty is normally considered a viable option, but your NC State Vet has indicated that this might not be a safe procedure for Sterling - but, if I'm reading this right, if it does succeed the dog is able to live a relatively normal life with continued medical observation. I'd continue the discussion with the state vet to determine, if I could what the odds on the various options are. Not a really great set of choices.

You're between the proverbial rock and a hard place.  You either keep the dog, preparing yourself for what I think are going to be some pretty extreme medical / medicine bills and a unusually short dog life -or- you return the dog to the breeder in exchange for a pup who is certified to be healthy.  Not a choice I'd want to be making ...

Before making any decisions, I'd suggest you chat with @blueeyedghost; while Shadow didn't have this condition, she did suffer from another form of an extreme medical issue.  Meredith might offer some help in dealing with a dog who's not healthy and because of its condition can probably never be expected to be really healthy,

I don't know what kind of resources you have but here at Cornell Vet School they performed a rare, experiemental heart surgery on a dog.

http://www.ithacajournal.com/story/news/local/2014/12/05/cornell-esme-recovery/19968215/

I'm sorry to hear about your puppy.

Hey dude, first off welcome to the forum. I'm so sorry to hear about Sterling, and trust me, I know *exactly* what you're going through right now. I won't rehash the whole story (my blog is linked below) but we found out our puppy was missing almost half her brain at 4 months old. It is a horrible situation to be in, and honestly there is no right or wrong answer. I'm happy to talk to you, be a sounding board, a virtual shoulder to cry on, whatever you need. It sucks, and there are a lot of callous people out there who don't get it at all and have no problem telling you as much.

I don't personally have experience with this, though our Cocker has mitral valve degeneration. We do have another member, and I'm going to message her right now to hop on, whose dog I think does have pulmonary (or possibly aortic, I can't remember) stenosis.

There definitely are outlets out there for funding as well, I can pull some contacts and help you research, though most of my contacts are more neuro related. Good luck, I know this is really hard right now.

Meredith - glad you posted. All I can offer, aside from the link above, is my sympathy and compassion. What a heartrending situation to be in!

blueeyedghost wrote:

... It sucks, and there are a lot of callous people out there who don't get it at all and have no problem telling you as much. ...

I'm home, Meredith, did my response come off that bad???

aljones wrote:

blueeyedghost wrote:

...  It sucks, and there are a lot of callous people out there who don't get it at all and have no problem telling you as much.  ...

I'm home, Meredith, did my response come off that bad???

I don't think that was directed at you. Meredith heard some pretty awful things from a lot of people when she was going through stuff with Shadow.

Jen, I really didn't think it was and I can - with great disgust - imagine some of the kinds of comments that have been made by others. It was really intended as a tease to lighten up a very awful situation.

I've noticed that the OP has been back but didn't comment. I'm concerned because I know that my comment was - possibly too - blunt. I really hope they'll be back ...

Oh I knew you were messing around, Al

I too hope the OP comes back though.

Hi Everyone!  Thank you for your comments. I've been back and saw a few comments here and there.  Sorry I didn't reply sooner.  I'm a 1st year graduate student, so I've been really busy with classes and I've been trying to do more research on Pulmonic Stenosis and treatment options for Sterling.  

@wpskier222, Thanks for the comments about the breeder, I do plan on talking with him soon.  He did say that he doesn't do any refunds, but hopefully he can give me some of my money back to help pay for Sterling's medical treatments.
@Aljones, I appreciate the bluntness.  Believe me, in situations like this I appreciate people who don't try to sugarcoat things.
@amymeme, thank you so much for the article.  I've looked up the doctor that did the surgery and he has a similar one of pulmonic stenosis.  I'm glad I know that he or the surgical technique could be an option.  I guess my only concern with that is the cost.  But that's something to worry about when we get to it.
@blueeyedghost, I'm sorry to hear about your situation. I welcome any advice and resources that you may have or know of.  I'm really just trying to figure out as much as I can so I can make a well inform decision and get Sterling the best possible help that I can.  I do realize that funding will be a big part of it seeing as how I am a graduate student with very limited funding.  I've thought of starting an online fundraiser for Sterling but my parents were against it.  

This has all been very difficult for me, to let you all know a little more about myself.  I had a black lab previously that passed away due to complications post-surgery for the removal of a ruptured mast cell tumor he was 8 and half and that was about 2yrs ago.  I was devastated and wasn't really ready to love another animal until this past holiday season when I started looking again.  I found and fell in love with Sterling and got him the first week of Feb.  To find out that he has a serious life threatening condition has just been the most difficult thing to deal with.  Everything I try to talk about it, I just end up in tears.

Uyen, it's good to see you back ... obviously I was worried that me response had scared you away from us.

"I just end up in tears", I can imagine that; I won't pretend to be able to imagine that variety of emotions this has put / is putting you through.  

From you avatar pic you've got yourself one handsome "kid" there.  Any chance that you've got some other pictures you'd be able to share with us (says the guy who has a raunchy camera and seldom posts pictures )

I know that I, and I presume most of us, wish we had a good solution for you ... I know that I don't ... just know that you're among friends here who will try to understand what you're dealing with ...

Thanks Al, here's a few pics of Sterling
Sterling at 6-7weeks
" />
Sterling a few days ago at 3months
" />

Cute pictures ... that second picture looks a whole lot like "Yeh, mom, I'm okay ... just feeling a little silly!!"

Yeah, he's seems complete fine. He's still asymptomatic, but the vet tells me it's pretty severe. Which makes me really worried and I want to treat it before he starts to show symptoms like fainting, collapsing or exercise intolerance.