Nova Star’s Journey: Heartworms, Healing, Home

In July 2025, Nova Star’s owners moved away and didn’t take her with them. A five year old German Shepherd, alone, was found by neighbors who began feeding her, believing she was pregnant. But what looked
like pregnancy was far more serious and was a death sentence.

Upon further examination, Nova Star was diagnosed with severe heartworm disease, one of the worst cases our vets had ever seen.
She also had right-sided congestive heart failure (CHF), high blood
pressure, and ascites, which is a dangerous build-up of fluid in the abdomen.The swelling that the neighbors had mistaken for pregnancy
wasactually her body struggling under the weight of untreated
heartworm disease.

(Nova Star’s condition before she was rescued. Pictured to the right.)

Veterinarians got to work immediately, draining the fluid and putting her on a treatment plan to stabilize
her heart before they could even begin tackling the heartworms themselves. Because her case was so severe, heartworm treatment couldn't be rushed. It had to be slow, careful, and closely monitored.

By December 2025, five months into her treatment, Star's echocardiogram showed real improvement. Her right-sided
CHF was getting better. It wasn't over yet, she still needed
continued medication and regular echocardiograms to track her
progress - but for the first time, the road ahead looked like it
was actually leading somewhere good. Through it all, one
constant remained by her side: her foster family. The people who
showed up for her appointments, gave her medications, and nursed her through a recovery that asked for patience most
foster pets never have to test.

In June 2026, nearly a year after she was found abandoned and fighting for her life, Star's echocardiogram delivered the news everyone had been hoping for: her congestive heart
failure had resolved. Her condition had improved enough that it
was finally safe to spay her and begin the next chapter of her story: finding a forever home. But in a way,
Nova Star’s happy ending had almost written itself.

The family who fostered her, who sat with her during vet appointments and treatments, who watched an abandoned dog slowly become steady again, couldn’t imagine letting her go. Her foster family became her forever family. She didn’t just survive, she found her way home, to a family who had been alongside her on her journey the entire time.

She’ll still need lifelong monitoring for her heart, but we couldn’t be happier that the people who cared for her during her recovery will be the same people standing beside her for every future checkup, every echocardiogram, every quiet Tuesday afternoon for the rest of her life. Nova Star is proof that second chances are worth it and that Furkids foster families help us save the most fragile lives.