Cowboy
Columbia, Tennessee
Male
Age: 4 months (DOB 5/1/2026)
7.8#
Healthy! Pulmonic Stenosis repaired August 2026.
Adoption Donation: $650
UPDATE AUGUST 1, 2026: 12 week old Cowboy recently came into our care after being diagnosed with a congenital heart defect that will require lifesaving surgery. Our wonderful volunteer flew out to Utah to collect him and bring him here to Birmingham, Alabama where he is being fostered and awaiting his heart surgery at Auburn University in a few weeks. Unfortunately, Friday night brought an unexpected and frightening turn.
Cowboy’s foster mom noticed a very sudden decline in his condition and immediately rushed him to the emergency vet. There, doctors discovered that Cowboy has a second congenital abnormality - a diaphragmatic hernia. A diaphragmatic hernia is a birth defect in which there is an abnormal opening in the diaphragm, the muscle that separates the chest from the abdomen. Through that opening, abdominal organs can move into the chest cavity, compressing the lungs and making it increasingly difficult to breathe. It is a life-threatening condition that requires surgical repair.
Cowboy was immediately placed on oxygen and at midnight, made the two-hour journey from Birmingham to Auburn University in a portable oxygen chamber. Thankfully, he arrived safely.
He remains hospitalized at Auburn, where he has been stabilized and continues to receive supplemental oxygen while his team carefully monitors him. If he remains stable, the current plan is for Cowboy to undergo diaphragmatic hernia repair surgery on Monday. However, if his condition worsens at any point, he will be taken to emergency surgery immediately.
Unfortunately his heart surgery cannot be performed at the same time. That means this tiny puppy is now facing two separate lifesaving surgeries. Little Cowboy may be small, but he has already shown us what a fighter he is. He has enormous obstacles ahead of him, but we are committed to giving him every opportunity to overcome them. We are so fortunate to have an amazing and generous support community making it possible for him to receive this care and give him the opportunity to live. His expenses are and will continue to be very expensive, and we are so thankful for your donations 💕
Rest assured, we will share updates as we know more and we appreciate your prayers and support 💜
Cowboy’s foster mom noticed a very sudden decline in his condition and immediately rushed him to the emergency vet. There, doctors discovered that Cowboy has a second congenital abnormality - a diaphragmatic hernia. A diaphragmatic hernia is a birth defect in which there is an abnormal opening in the diaphragm, the muscle that separates the chest from the abdomen. Through that opening, abdominal organs can move into the chest cavity, compressing the lungs and making it increasingly difficult to breathe. It is a life-threatening condition that requires surgical repair.
Cowboy was immediately placed on oxygen and at midnight, made the two-hour journey from Birmingham to Auburn University in a portable oxygen chamber. Thankfully, he arrived safely.
He remains hospitalized at Auburn, where he has been stabilized and continues to receive supplemental oxygen while his team carefully monitors him. If he remains stable, the current plan is for Cowboy to undergo diaphragmatic hernia repair surgery on Monday. However, if his condition worsens at any point, he will be taken to emergency surgery immediately.
Unfortunately his heart surgery cannot be performed at the same time. That means this tiny puppy is now facing two separate lifesaving surgeries. Little Cowboy may be small, but he has already shown us what a fighter he is. He has enormous obstacles ahead of him, but we are committed to giving him every opportunity to overcome them. We are so fortunate to have an amazing and generous support community making it possible for him to receive this care and give him the opportunity to live. His expenses are and will continue to be very expensive, and we are so thankful for your donations 💕
Rest assured, we will share updates as we know more and we appreciate your prayers and support 💜
UPDATE AUGUST 4, 2026: Friday night, little Cowboy’s foster mom noticed he was suddenly struggling to breathe and rushed him to the emergency vet. There, doctors discovered that in addition to his known congenital heart defect, Cowboy had a second congenital abnormality - a diaphragmatic hernia, where an opening in the diaphragm allows abdominal organs to slip into the chest cavity, preventing the lungs from fully expanding and making it extremely difficult to breathe.
Cowboy was immediately placed on supplemental oxygen and made the 2 hour journey in the middle of the night to Auburn University in a portable oxygen cage. He remained at Auburn over the weekend while the incredible critical care team worked to keep him stable and prepare him for surgery.
Yesterday, brave little Cowboy underwent his lifesaving surgery to repair his diaphragmatic hernia and has had a wonderful recovery. We got the call today that we had all been hoping for - that Cowboy could go home! 🙌🏼 We just sprung our sweet boy from the hospital, and he’s now headed back to his foster home in Birmingham, Alabama, for lots of rest, recovery, and TLC ❤️🩹
While today is certainly a day to celebrate, Cowboy’s journey isn’t over. Once he has recovered from this surgery, he will still need another lifesaving procedure to repair his congenital heart defect. One step at a time. 🐾
Thank you for continuing to keep Cowboy in your thoughts and prayers as he recovers. We know he still has another mountain to climb, but today we’re celebrating this victory and the fact that our sweet little buckaroo is headed home 💜
UPDATE AUGUST 10, 2026: Baby Cowboy is 6 days post op from his lifesaving diaphragmatic hernia repair surgery, and we are thrilled to share that he is having a fantastic recovery thus far! 🎉
His incision looks great, and he’ll return to the vet in about a week for suture removal. Perhaps the biggest sign that he’s feeling so good is that keeping this busy little buckaroo quiet and on the “down low” while he heals has become quite the challenge! Thankfully, Cowboy loves a good chew, which has been very helpful in keeping him busy and entertained while his body does the important work of healing 💜
His incision looks great, and he’ll return to the vet in about a week for suture removal. Perhaps the biggest sign that he’s feeling so good is that keeping this busy little buckaroo quiet and on the “down low” while he heals has become quite the challenge! Thankfully, Cowboy loves a good chew, which has been very helpful in keeping him busy and entertained while his body does the important work of healing 💜
UPDATE AUGUST 26, 2026: Baby Cowboy is at Auburn University today, where he underwent a lifesaving heart procedure this afternoon to repair his congenital heart defect - pulmonic valve stenosis.
The easiest way to understand Cowboy’s condition is to think of a garden hose with water flowing normally through it 💦 Now imagine squeezing part of that hose, making the opening much narrower. The water can still get through, but it takes much more pressure to push it past that narrowed area. That’s essentially what has been happening inside Cowboy’s heart. His pulmonic valve is abnormally narrow, forcing his heart to work much harder to pump blood through it and creating a dangerously high pressure gradient across the valve.
This afternoon, Cowboy underwent a successful balloon valvuloplasty. During the procedure, a tiny balloon was guided into the narrowed valve and inflated to stretch it open - essentially opening up Cowboy’s “hose” so blood can flow through more freely and bringing that excessive pressure down to a much healthier level ❤️
And if you’re wondering just how brave this little buckaroo is, this photo says it all. Here he is walking the halls at Auburn, back in the very same place where he underwent emergency, lifesaving surgery for a diaphragmatic hernia just a few weeks ago. Today, he returned to face his second lifesaving procedure in less than a month. That is an awful lot for a little 4 month old puppy to go through. But Cowboy continues to meet every challenge with the sweetest spirit, a wagging tail, and more courage than seems possible for such a little guy.
We’ll share more as we hear from his team at Auburn and as our brave boy begins his recovery. Tonight, we are simply so grateful for the incredible team caring for him and that Cowboy’s had been given the gift of life with his repaired heart ❤️🩹
The easiest way to understand Cowboy’s condition is to think of a garden hose with water flowing normally through it 💦 Now imagine squeezing part of that hose, making the opening much narrower. The water can still get through, but it takes much more pressure to push it past that narrowed area. That’s essentially what has been happening inside Cowboy’s heart. His pulmonic valve is abnormally narrow, forcing his heart to work much harder to pump blood through it and creating a dangerously high pressure gradient across the valve.
This afternoon, Cowboy underwent a successful balloon valvuloplasty. During the procedure, a tiny balloon was guided into the narrowed valve and inflated to stretch it open - essentially opening up Cowboy’s “hose” so blood can flow through more freely and bringing that excessive pressure down to a much healthier level ❤️
And if you’re wondering just how brave this little buckaroo is, this photo says it all. Here he is walking the halls at Auburn, back in the very same place where he underwent emergency, lifesaving surgery for a diaphragmatic hernia just a few weeks ago. Today, he returned to face his second lifesaving procedure in less than a month. That is an awful lot for a little 4 month old puppy to go through. But Cowboy continues to meet every challenge with the sweetest spirit, a wagging tail, and more courage than seems possible for such a little guy.
We’ll share more as we hear from his team at Auburn and as our brave boy begins his recovery. Tonight, we are simply so grateful for the incredible team caring for him and that Cowboy’s had been given the gift of life with his repaired heart ❤️🩹
UPDATE AUGUST 28, 2026: Our brave little Cowboy returned to Auburn University this week to undergo his second lifesaving procedure in just a few short weeks. This time, he was there to repair his congenital heart defect - pulmonic valve stenosis - meaning the valve responsible for allowing blood to leave the right side of his heart and travel to his lungs was abnormally narrowed forcing his little heart to work much harder to pump blood. His pre-surgical pressure gradient was approximately 75 mmHg, and changes were already developing on the right side of his heart. Cowboy underwent a successful balloon valvuloplasty to repair this. Through a small incision in his neck, Auburn’s cardiology team guided a special balloon catheter into his heart and across the narrowed pulmonary valve. The balloon was inflated to open the pathway for blood to flow more freely. The procedure went beautifully and his results are incredible! The following morning, Cowboy’s echocardiogram showed normal blood flow through his pulmonary valve, with his pressure gradient dropping all the way down to approximately 9mmHg which is normal for a healthy heart! 🙌🏼Cowboy is now back in his foster home resting and recovering and allowing his incision to heal. He’ll return for another echocardiogram in a few months to evaluate his long-term response, but his team is very optimistic that this excellent result will continue 💕We are incredibly grateful to the amazing team at Auburn University College of Veterinary Medicine for giving Cowboy’s special little heart the chance at the long, happy life it deserves and for taking such wonderful care of him during his time there for both his lifesaving surgeries 💜