Winky, who's 5 now and who's been very healthy and vibrant all his life, just started having breathing issues about a week ago, like it was hard for him to catch his breath. We didn't think much of it, as sometimes after playing really hard, he would be like that, but it would always go back to normal after 5 or 10 minutes. Or we thought it might be allergies or something minor. But it continued on this time, and he even fainted for a few seconds after running around the house a few days ago. So he's definitely been on a less active lifestyle the past week. He loves to run around in our yard or just play fetch all day long.
We took him to his regular vet, and x-rays showed he has an enlarged heart and liver. Winky reverse sneezes quite a bit, but the vet wasn't worried about that at all. He was put on antibiotics. His blood results showed everything was normal and his other organs are completely fine and he doesn't have any viruses or ringworm or anything like that. We have not yet received the stool sample results. But he's continued to have trouble breathing. The vet did not sound very optimistic about his condition. He does not have collapsed trachea, just his heart is too big near where the trachea splits into two and it presses up against it. He also mentioned the xray looked like his liver was enlarged. Even at rest, his heart rate is about 60 to 70 beats per minute. When he is up and about, it can get as high as 100 beats per minute (without any strenuous activity or running), both are pretty high for him.
It's sad to see Winky not be able to breathe normally and Winky absolutely LIVES to play fetch, which he can't do now (or perhaps ever again)... Last night, in the middle of the night, we awoke to hear Winky gasping for breath. It was so heart wrenching to see him suffer.
We feel so helpless right now.
Please keep him in your prayers and thoughts.