Frankie Sinatra - Adopted

Meet Frankie Sinatra - November 2018

Frankie’s situation was brought to our attention by one of our wonderful supporters who found out that this little baby with a serious heart disease was stuck in a sketchy backyard breeder’s situation, and we knew immediately that we had to rescue him so, we mobilized a cross-provincial group of generous volunteers to make it happen. Two of our selfless, Ottawa-based volunteers drove ten hours, round-trip the very next day, to pick up this precious baby (and another one we later called Pucci) and bring him to safety.

Frankie, a 2.5-month old apple-head chihuahua, looks happy, energetic and healthy from the outside; unfortunately though, looks are deceiving in his case. Frankie has a Grade 4 heart murmur, which means that there is a very good chance that he could experience heart failure at any time. If he survives to his six-month birthday, we will then be able to do more to help keep him healthy, including doing further veterinary testing to learn more about his condition, providing him with potentially life-saving meds, among other expensive, but very necessary, veterinary care.

I know that sounds sad (and it is!) but there is also good news… Frankie will live out the rest of his life in the happiest place in the world: his new forever home, under BUTTONNOSES care. No matter how long he lives, Frankie will experience nothing but love, attention, caring and the best medical care possible.

Update - April 2019

At his first cardiologist appointment this week, Frankie was diagnosed with a patent ductus arteriosus (PDA). Long story short, because the blood vessel isn't closing properly, his blood gets recirculated from the aorta (higher pressure) through to the pulmonary artery (lower pressure). With this change in volume, Frankie's heart has already started to enlarge and, eventually, will become so enlarged that the vet predicts he will experience congestive heart failure within 6 months to a year.

Frankie is going to be undergoing open heart surgery in mid-April and, because of his age and the fact that he is otherwise healthy, it's very likely that this surgery will fix the issue completely, ensuring that he lives a long and happy life.

Unfortunately, this highly specialized and life-saving surgery is expensive; assuming there are no complications, the surgery will cost $5,500.

So this is where we need your help...

Please donate anything that you can to help us to save this little boy's life. He has only months to live if we don't get his surgery done RIGHT AWAY so please donate through our GoFundMe campaign.

Update - May 2019

Yesterday, our BUTTONNOSES baby, Frankie, had his open-heart surgery to fix his PDA - and ACED it!!

The surgery went super smoothly: no complications or abnormalities at all. The surgeon was very pleased with how well it went and how quickly Frankie is already bouncing back, post-op.

We got another update this AM and it's even better news. Frankie is still doing wonderfully and making huge progress in terms of healing. He even ate a bit of food this morning.

What a trooper, right?! Our collective hearts exploded with happiness when we heard that!

If Frankie continues to heal at this rate, his chest tube may be removed later this afternoon and he will be able to go home either tomorrow or the day after, depending on what the surgeon says when he sees him today.

Of course, we will keep you updated in real-time via Instagram, so make sure that you're following us at @buttonnoses to follow Frankie's healing journey.

So, next steps...

Once Frankie is discharged from the hospital, he will be at home, on constant bed-rest, for two weeks. After the two-week period of bed-rest, he will go back into VEC for a post-op recheck with the surgeon.

A month after his recheck, he will have another ultrasound to make sure that his heart and health still look as perfect as it does today. 🤞🏻

We would like to thank Dr. Ringwood at VEC (Yonge St.), the skilled surgeon that took such good care of our adorable baby boy. He is a wonderful doctor and we're so thankful for his help and expertise in healing Frankie's broken heart.

Finally, from Frankie and all of us at BUTTONNOSES, we want to thank ALL of you, our loyal, caring supporters and lovers of all tiny animals. Without your love, prayers and generous donations, Frankie would not be here - facing a very short journey to a happy, healthy life and a fur-ever home.

💕💗 THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU! WE LOVE & APPRECIATE ALL OF YOU!!💕💗

Update - June2019

Last week, our BUTTONNOSES baby, Frankie, had his post-op check-up with the surgeon who did his open-heart surgery to fix his PDA.

In the appointment, we got nothing but good news:

Frankie's heart murmur is completely gone! He's a brand new dog with a healthy ❤️!

There's only one more step on Frankie's journey to perfect health: in August, he will have a final ultrasound with his cardiologist to confirm that his heart is as healthy and strong as it is today.

All of this is because of each and every one of our loyal supporters and dog-lovers; we couldn't do what we do, without you. From Frankie and all of us at BUTTONNOSES, we want to thank you again for helping us save this little baby's life. Because of your generosity, Frankie will now live a long, happy and healthy life - and, soon, will be looking for his fur-ever home.

Follow us at @buttonnoses on Instagram for future updates on Frankie and to be alerted when he is available for adoption.