I found this out when he was a puppy, vet saw an enlarged heart in an x-ray. I took him to a cardiologist & he had an echocardiogram (? or was it electrocardiogram) an ultrasound of the heart, which showed that his heart had no abnormalities or defects. So Momo has been asymptomatic all these years & still no heart murmurs. He's now showing symptoms @ 5.5 years old.
I've recently noticed that his tongue turns purplish & he gets out of breath very easily, pants a lot after running up & down the stairs. He's also been doing the expression cough which is indicative of heart problems. His last x-ray was done about 2 months ago & it showed the whole heart enlarged, but the right one was much much bigger than the left side. He's scheduled to have an EKG next week. We also had our annual heartworm test & he is neg.
Our current new vet has all the equipment to do an EKG in house, but the Echo must be done by a specialist that they call in. Should I do the EKG @ the vet's & use their specialist for the Echo (if needed)? Or should I take him to a specialist/ cardiologist? I am hoping & praying that meds can help Momo & he doesn't have congestive heart failure. We sure would appreciate your prayers & any advice you have to give!
Just a little background about Momo & how we got to be together. He was advertised as 'teacup' so I went to go see him out of curiosity. There was a girl w/her toddler son & another Yorkie puppy who was twice as big as Momo. Momo seemed kind of shy & timid (he turned out to be the total opposite loll!), was very skinny & tiny (he's a widdle piggie & is 5#'s). The girl said she was selling them for her 'uncle', but she was probably a re-seller/broker & Momo likely came from a puppy mill. The puppies were gated off in the kitchen, but her son was throwing big heavy toys @ them.
I felt so bad for the puppies, I had to get them out of there. She said the other puppy was already sold, going to a couple in San Diego so I had to 'save' Momo.
PLEASE DO NOT buy from brokers, re-sellers, pet stores, back yard breeders & online (puppy mills)! All you'll get is lots of heart ache & an empty wallet!