So, my baby-dog, that I adopted just a few months ago, has been diagnosed with an enlarged heart and an out of whack heart rhythm. My mom and I took London in over the weekend, for a $30, fifteen minute vet appointment. He's been coughing and it had gotten worse recently. While he was with the humane society, they said he had kennel cough, so we thought it was coming back and a dose of anti-biotics would make it all better. He got a heartworm test and it was all clear. Yay! And they said he didn't seem to have kennel cough, either. Yay! While they were examining him I mentioned that he breathed faster and harder while he was laying down than he did when he was up running around. They didn't say anything at that point.
$400 and almost two and half hours later, we find out that London has the biggest enlarged heart the vet has ever seen. It's pushing his windpipe out of place, but isn't constricting it. Either fluid is building up because his heart can't push it through well enough or he has an infection. He had a blood test on Wednesday to determine that. The results will be in later this week. He also got two chest X-rays and an EKG on Saturday and a vet cardiologist examined the EKG earlier this week. So, isn't he special to have his own doggie cardiologist. The vet said she was surprised he lived through his anthesia when he got fixed a few months ago. There is no telling how long he'll last, but the vet says she seen dogs live as long as a year after diagnosis.
Bottom line, London is a happy dog. I gave him a bath over the weekend and he was perfectly behaved. He likes people and other dogs (maybe not Luke so much), and he seems thrilled to be living with my parents instead of in a cage at the humane society. He's such a beautiful little soul and such a blessing in our lives. I hope he sticks it out with us a long, long time.
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