Patriot's Journey- a glimmer of hope

I had to go into the vet yesterday as Justice now has kennel cough even though fully vaxed.  :-( Getting the dogs to take their antibiotics and cough meds is becoming interesting to say the least. Patriot has been on her meds long enough to know to pick them from the food and spit them on the floor or run for cover if I try to put them in her mouth. Justice isn't interested in eating but will allow us to give her the meds some times. We have to watch that she doesn't hack them up.  Both dogs have love to hack out the pills and it is just NASTY to have to pick up slimy pukey looking pills 3-4 times and keep giving them until finally they are so dissolved they can't spit them out anymore. ICK!



Justice and Bub



I requested to meet with the vet we saw on Monday with Patriot to see if he had any news yet.  He said he hasn't talked to the cardio yet but he had researched and had some ideas.

He believes that even though she has Congenital Heart Failure and the VPCs that her heart isn't in failure at this time. This gives us the chance to try and keep her from going into heart failure. His suggestion is to bring Patriot in for a least a day to the clinic where he will do IV fluids and ladocain drip. He hopes that this will slow her heart down enough that it might catch a normal rhythm and then she will be put on a cocktail of heart meds to hopefully keep her heart rate steady. Its not without risks though. The whole thing hinges on Pate's heart being healthy and normal. The Dr can't hear any murmurs so he is hoping her heart is normal just off beat.  She will have to have chest x-rays and possibly other tests to verify this. If her heart is not normal then it won't work and there isn't much we can do. We also have to worry that the ladocain drug itself could trigger another attack like the drugs used during her spay triggered the first episode.

The good news is IF this works and we find the right combo of heart meds he expects she could live a relatively normal life though we would still need to exercise caution. But she would be able to play with her sister and enjoy activities with the family in moderation.

We will wait to do anything until we hear from the cardiologist. We don't want to rush into something that could make things worse or be of no help. In the meantime we are keeping her calm and watching her close. She seems to be on the mend from the kennel cough. :-) She hasn't coughed or gagged much even while playing so I am hoping that means her heart isn't over working.




"Look mom, I'm still your cute little lap puppy!"

                                                          Patriot after the vet on Monday

She crawled on to the couch and my lap (a no no in our house) really milking the attention she was getting