Kobe is a 1-year-old Golden Retriever in Roanoke, VA, who needs $2,000 for Open Heart Tricuspid Valve Replacement Surgery.

I got Kobe when he was just 6 weeks old. He had no known health issues when I got him. He appeared to be a healthy, normal playful pup. When I took him to the vet for his first check-up, my veterinarian heard a heart abnormality and told me that I needed to take Kobe to a vet cardiologist.
I have another dog named Leo that is 3 years old and I work from home so they are with me all of the time.

Kobe is one year old and is a cuddler and sleeps on the bed with me every night. His favorite things are wrestling with his brother Leo and running in the woods to get sticks. My parents live next door and he loves going to see them. Kobe loves everyone he meets. I have 4 nieces and nephews that adore Kobe and love to come and play with him. He is so wonderful and gentle with the children.

Kobe is one of the sweetest dogs anyone could ever meet. He has such a kind and gentle spirit and loves his life. He brings so much joy to others. One of the things that makes Kobe unique that makes us smile is his love of sticks as you can see in his picture and video. The sticks he finds just keep getting bigger and bigger as he has grows. Kobe is such a gift to us.

Colorado State Veterinary Hospital is the facility performing the surgery and the treating veterinarians are Dr. Chris Orton and Dr. Shiori Arai. Since Kobe is now one year old and fully grown, it is essential that he have the surgery now before his heart further weakens. Kobe went in to heart failure 2 months ago which is an indicator of the progression of his condition.

Kobe's only chance of survival is to have an extremely high cost heart valve replacement surgery at Colorado State which is the only facility in the country to perform this. It would give him a good chance of living a normal life and years he otherwise would not have.