Well, Shannon is home and the news is mixed. She was in serious trouble Sunday when she went to the vet. She had been listless, coughing for a few days and it seemed her breathing was kind of labored, so I decided to check things out. I was thinking some kind of upper respiratory infection or, perhaps, kennel cough. However, the vet determined that she had a very loud heart murmur and really bad chest sounds, so she decided to take an x-ray. It turned out that there was fluid around her heart and something going on in her lungs. She was immediately put on oxygen and received antibiotics and a diuretic to try and relieve the fluid accumulation. She had to stay overnight for observation and the vet said that she wanted to do an echocardiogram to see what was going on with her heart. But first she had to feel better.
Monday morning I called the vet's office to see what was happening. I was told that she was much improved and that she could come home that day, but she was going to have to come back on Tuesday for the echo. Tuesday, I dropped her off on my way to work. Then I spent half the day useless because all I could think about was my puppy. I got a call at lunchtime with the results. Early stage heart disease with a whole list of stuff about her mitral valves and ventricles which mostly just went right through my head. I latched onto the word mild and went with that. She's going to have to take heart medication and go for further testing to see how it is working. The vet is also concerned about her kidney results and wants to do an ultrasound to see what is going on there. I'm really having difficulty digesting all this information. I'm just hanging onto the reassurances from the doctor that it is a plus that we caught this fairly early. Shannon is home and feeling better now. She's not a hundred percent but she is interested in the world and willing to play, so I'm hoping for the best.
I had to chuckle when you said "latched onto mild" i'm the same way, so glad your sweet pup is back home. Dogs should never be sick those sweet SWEET souls.
Name: DebbieJRT Home: Bellerose, New York, United States About Me: crotchety cross stitcher, trying to channel my inner athlete See my complete profile
I'm glad to hear that Shannon is home and doing better. Give her some extra hugs and kisses from me :)