[Lizzie07]

In Jan 2008, my then 13 yr old IG was diagnosed with congestive heart failure. I had taken her to my vet for coughing too. Diane, my vet, did an xray and blood work. Blood work was fine, but the heart was enlarged. Opal started taking vetmedin, 1.25mg 2X a day. I asked Diane, who is also a pretty good friend of mine if I should take Opal to a specialists and she didn't think so.

Opal usually gets an annual dental every Jan, but Diane did not want to do one because her heart was so enlarged and was afraid to put Opal under. I have aggressively maintained Opal's teeth with Petzlife, but her breath was still bad. It was killing me to know she had heart problems and bad teeth. I was afraid she had a fistula, which she did.

I took her to an internist in March. He completely evaluated Opal and did a echocardiogram, ultrasound and xrays. And bloodwork. Bloodwork was not perfect, but not bad for a dog who will soon be 15. However, she had mitral valve prolapse, a mass in her abdomen and a mass cell tumor on her side. I felt like the floor fell out from under my feet when I heard all this. She also had a little fluid in her lungs and a few irregular heartbeats.

Jory kept Opal on the vetmedin and also put her on enalipril 2.5 mg 2x/day, digoxin 1/4th of a .125mcg tablet 2x/day, and lasix 6.25mg 2x/day. The mass cell tumor was malignant and she did have an oral fistula. The goal was to strengthen and stablize her heart enough to do a dental, quickly. The tumor was removed under a local and was grade 2, which at her age, we decided not to do anything else as the avg life span is greater than what Opal's will probably be.

It took about six weeks, but she was able to have a dental and she really did need it. She had several teeth pulled and the fistula was repaired. She is doing well in that regard. Jory said they really watched the heart monitor and Opal didn't have a single irregular beat, they were very pleased.

So, Opal has been doing really well, until two weeks ago to the day. She refused her breakfast, and when I tried to get her to take her pills in food, she refused that too. I gave her the pills and noticed her breathing seemed labored. I called the vet and too her right in. Opal was in respiratory distress from fluid in her lungs and her pulse ox was in the 80's, very dangerous. She was put on oxygen and given lasix IV. They kept her overnight in order to keep her in the oxygen cage and I wasn't able to bring her home until the next afternoon by which time her pulse ox was 97%. Much better. Her lasix was also increased to 1.25mg 3X/day. She goes back next week for another evaluation. Also, I was told that if her respirations were more than 30/min when she was sleeping, to get her in asap or to an emergency vet.

I can't tell you how many times I have checked Opal's respirations since getting her home and so far, so good.

That is my experience. From all this, I would recommend a specialist. I don't feel I am paying that much more than I would pay my regular vet. The big difference is Jory has more diagnostic equipment than Diane and more experience with these types of cases. He's more cutting edge, in a way. He is also the vet Diane recommended I take my lymphoma dog to for treatment.

Oh, I should say that Opal rarely coughs now.