A Calgary woman heartbroken over her dying puppy hopes her story will serve as a warning to others who are looking to buy a dog from a breeder.

Cathy Krpan's puppy Jorja, an eight-month-old Saint Bernard, only has a few weeks to live because of a severe heart defect.

The breeder calls it an isolated incident, assuring that all the other puppies in the litter are fine.

"I'm just devastated and we all love her so much. That's what's so hard, knowing she's not going to live for very long," says Krpan.

Krpan says she bought Jorja from a Saint Bernard breeder near High River earlier this year for $1,200.

She says Jorja was sick from the moment she came home, adding she later found out the breeder doesn't send all of its puppies for vet checks.

"It turned out she had multiple parasites and she had E. coli urinary tract infection and we spent $2,000 just that first week trying to get her stabilized," she says.

That was just the beginning of Jorja's health problems. She had also been diagnosed with a severe heart defect.

Krpan has spent $12,000 on vet bills so far. She says she has talked to the breeder about the situation, hoping to change their breeding practices to include genetic testing and to stop using Jorja's parents to breed more puppies.

Jorja's vet says genetic testing currently available would not have caught the dog's heart defect. Still, some doctors said they believe an early examination by a veterinarian for all new puppies is a good way to make sure nothing is obviously wrong.

However, breeders are under no obligation to do genetic testing or send new puppies to the vet before they are sold.

Erik Mol of Mountains Country Saint Bernards is the breeder and says only puppies which show outward signs of illness go to the vet.

Mol says he has offered to replace Jorja free of charge.

He says genetic testing is too expensive.

He also says Jorja's parents have produced dozens of healthy pups, so he won't remove the pair from his breeding program.

"This is a single incident and those things can happen; they're live animals. But we're not going to put mommy and daddy from Jorja together to make the exact combination. We won't do that anymore," he says.

Krpan hopes by speaking out, others looking to buy a dog will ask the breeder the right questions.