🚨💔 8 WEEKS OLD. A BROKEN HEART. AND A RACE AGAINST TIME. 💔🚨

Meet Ephemera. Ephie for short. 🐾

At just 8 weeks old, this precious little floof landed on the euthanasia list at Dallas Animal Services. Her crimes? A distended belly and a Grade IV heart murmur.

Apparently, being born with a broken heart is enough to cost you your life before you've even had a chance to live it.

We couldn't let that be the end of her story.

We pulled Ephie to safety and immediately rushed her to the vet for imaging and bloodwork. One very expensive $941 vet visit later, we learned that Ephie has what's called a Patent Ductus Arteriosus (PDA), which causes her characteristic "washing machine" heart murmur.

So, what the heck is a PDA?

Before puppies are born, they have a blood vessel that allows blood to bypass their lungs while they're developing in the womb. That vessel is supposed to close shortly after birth.

Ephie's never did.

Instead, blood is flowing through an abnormal connection between two major arteries, forcing her tiny heart to work overtime. Every single beat is harder than it should be.

And her little heart can only work that hard for so long.

💔 Without lifesaving surgery, Ephie is not expected to live to see her first birthday.

Read that again. She's EIGHT WEEKS OLD.

But here's the part we're holding onto with everything we've got:

❤️ With surgery, Ephie has approximately a 96% chance of success.

NINETY-SIX PERCENT.

Those are odds worth fighting for. Those are odds worth emptying our pockets for. And those are odds that make us absolutely unwilling to accept that this baby's story should end before her first birthday.

Here's what we're facing financially:

🩺 $941 — Initial diagnostics, X-rays, and bloodwork (already spent)

🫀 ~$1,000 — Echocardiogram and cardiology evaluation to determine the best surgical approach

❤️‍🩹 $5,000 MINIMUM — Lifesaving cardiac surgery

💸 Total anticipated cost: $6,941+, assuming no complications.

We aren't talking about a routine procedure. We're talking about specialty cardiac care, experienced surgeons, and the kind of medical intervention that can give this baby an ENTIRE lifetime she otherwise won't have.

And Ephie? She has absolutely no idea that her heart is broken.

She's soft. She's sweet. She's affectionate. She's a ridiculously lovable little cloud of puppy fluff who just wants to be held, adored, and given the chance to grow up.

She doesn't know what a PDA is. She doesn't know what a euthanasia list is. She doesn't know that strangers on the internet may be the only reason she gets to celebrate her first birthday.

But we do. And now you do, too.

We know nearly $7,000 is a staggering amount of money for one little dog. But how do you look at a 8-week-old puppy with a 96% chance of a successful outcome and decide she's too expensive to save?

We can't. We won't.

PLEASE HELP US FIX EPHIE'S BROKEN HEART.

Whether you can spare $5, $25, $100, or simply share her story, you are helping us get this little girl one heartbeat closer to the future she deserves.

She survived being a stray. She survived the euthanasia list. Now we need to help her survive the very heart she was born with.

Let's give Ephie something she's never had: a future.

🐾 Code Red Animal Project, Inc.

501(c)(3) nonprofit animal rescueShe has so much love to give. She just needs a heart strong enough to keep giving it.

8-Week Old Stray Puppy Won't Reach Her 1st Birthday Without Heart Surgery

Ephemera has a 100% fatal congenital "washing machine" heart murmur. Heart surgery will give her a 96% chance at living a full life.