dryce

We started looking for a friend for Chuck after he started not wanting to leave a friend's toy poodle. We found a five year old rescue named Meeka. She was rescued from a puppy mill situation. The rescue described her as very sweet and outgoing for a puppy mill rescue. We filed the application and picked her up two weeks later. She is every bit the sweet girl they described. Unfortunately, that first day I knew something was very wrong. I heard a very distinct wheezing sound when she took a breath. This seemed to worsen when eating, drinking, or while asleep. She would choke on her water and seemed to cough with moderate activity. I called her foster the following evening because we noticed she wouldn't eat any kibble only canned and we weren't sure if she had started pad training. I mentioned the wheezing and she insisted that she never heard any at all. She did say that because Meeka was under weight upon arrival, she may have over fed a bit. She did have a large tummy so I thought maybe overweight, but she is definitely wheezing too. I made the vet appointment right away as something really bothered me tabout the breathing. She also wasn't very active.

When the vet examined Meeka, he noted fluid was present in the right side of her heart. He put her on 12.5mg Lasix and said it could be a valve issue. At this point, he feels it could correct with the meds, but also warns of a potentially terminal condition. He said should the Lasix be unable to resolve the condition, she would require heart meds that would buy her a little time. She has been on the meds a while and what I thought was extra weight turned out to be excess fluid. She weighed in at 12lbs, a pound of which the vet thought was fluid. Her stomach is normal size now, but the wheezing persists. Turns out she has ear mites and has had teeth removed in the past. She still has very bad breath, so I wonder about the state of her remaining teeth. This may explain the kibble issue. I am bringing it up at her follow up next week. I am just heart broken over this. Chuck has become so attached to her as well. He sleeps close by and checks on her if she coughs. She eats and drinks and is able to move around a bit. She would be treatable on meds given the worst case scenario, but I wonder if she is in pain. Anyone have a similar situation?

BorderKelpie

She wasn't raised in the best environment, her health issues could be genetic or the heart issues could have been brought on by infected teeth. Bacteria growing on that green stuff on filthy teeth tend to travel to and lodge in the heart valves.

She may not be in pain, per say, just sometimes a bit uncomfortable. I do believe that by living in the loving environment she's in now more than makes up for the occasional boughts of discomfort.

Honestly, my opinion on this situation is to allow her to live out her life as a beloved companion. You will be able to tell when she's had enough and is ready to go. Right now, she's probably loving every bit of attention and affection she's finally getting - as of right now, she proabably already thinks she's in heavan, which makes you an angel for adopting her.

Thank you for giving her the love and care she so deserves and for being compassionate enough to worry about her. You're awesome. Give your guys a big hug for me, please.

dryce

Thank you. We are lucky to have her for however long we will be given. She is such as sweetheart. We expected her to be in perfect health according to the vet she saw in Ohio. So it was a disheartening to realize that our time with her may be limited. I worry about my Chuck as well. He seems to have taken to her so quickly. I'm not sure if he senses something or not, but he tries to "protect her" from the scary vacuum cleaner and he always lets her eat first. He wants to go outside with her. I expected a little jealousy at first, but he seems to have taken her into the fold rather quickly. When she first wakes up in the morning they will play together and chase until she starts to cough. It makes me a little sad to see him try and nudge her into playing when she has to stop. All in all, he has been very gentle with her. I expected him to try and be a little rough with Meeka after getting used to playing tough with my friend's male. I'm sure the vet will have lots of information for me, but based on the information I've found, it seems she would need meds, close monitoring, limited exercise, and a low sodium diet. We have her eating Wellness Core now, but I think that has standard dietary levels. I imagine they'll want to keep her on the Lasix to prevent any further fluid retention in the abdomen and add any heart meds necessary. I realize we aren't completely there yet, but I'd rather not be unprepared for the worst case scenario should we arrive at that. Anything else that may be helpful to read or consider? Thanks for all the help so far.

BorderKelpie

You're going about it the right way: be thankful for the time you have with her, let Chuck enjoy her company - he understands more than you think he does, take the best care of her you can and just be happy that you've given her so much joy for however long she may last. You might be surprised just how long a happy dog will survive and thrive with the right care and attention. I am thinking that she found the best place to be. Try hard not to worry, she knows when you do and it will stress her. Just be happy she is still alive and enjoying herself - that's the best we can hope for with any one we love - healthy or not.

As far as further research, looks like you have a good idea on diets (don't let your vet talk you into Science Diet or Purina crap-in-a-bag). You may look into some homeopathic remedies if you're comfortable with those, if nothing else, it's really interesting research. But, good food, love and a happy environment is the best first step for her.

You're doing a fine job, try to not worry so much and just enjoy her.

dryce

Do the mills typically debark their dogs? I've noticed that Meeka won't bark. I heard her make a sound in her sleep the other night though. Could you tell if this had been done? She doesn't even bark when correcting Chuck. She can growl though.

BorderKelpie

I've heard ugly rumors to the fact that the mill dogs are debarked. I personally don't have an issue with humanely debarked dogs, I've owned one before (surgically debarked done by the breeder before I got him), but from what I read, mill dogs are done 'in-house' sans anesthesia. I am hoping/praying that that is just an ugly rumor, though.
Some dogs just aren't vocal, though. We can hope she's one of those.

PonkiPoodles

Puppy mill dogs have lots of issues. It could be related to several issues...
most puppy mill dogs have respiratory infections (which can re-occur over time) because of the high amonia conditions they are kept in. A lot of them also have heartworm etc. Have she been tested for heartworms?

And yes, most mills debark their dogs using a metal pipe or something similar that is shoved down the throat to sever the vocal cords.

dryce

I've heard many horrible things about the mills, but I honestly had no idea about this. She was listed as heartworm negative in the vet record, but this was the vet that missed the heart issue to begin with. I will talk with mine about the possibility of checking again. She is going tomorrow morning for a follow up. I just honestly want to give her every chance possible.

dryce

So, it's been a little while since all of this started. The vet added Enalapril to the Lasix and I had him repeat the heartworm. The heartworm test was still negative thankfully. At my request, he added Clindamycin as well. I wanted to be sure that Meeka hadn't developed bacterial Endocarditis from the infected teeth the rescue had extracted. Surprisingly, she has improved with the antibiotics. The wheezing has lessened to almost none at all and she has a bit more energy and improved levels of activity. When the antibiotics are taken out of the equation, all of the issues begin to return.

What leaves me a little confused is that my vet hasn't done any type of testing to confirm a condition one way or the other. She is on her third course of antibiotics and while still doing well, I worry that they are missing the actual cause. Shouldn't they do some type of bloodwork here? He says that they will continue to treat and any infection should resolve, but in the same breath he says she may need a break from the antibiotics at some point. Wouldn't pulling the antibiotics only allow any bacteria to build again? It seems that this would be the opposite of a desired result.

I've been questioning his tactics since taking Chuck to the allergist and finding out he missed a bacterial infection. The allergist felt that an elimination diet should have been the first step before skin testing. Originally he was going to the allergist for the test, but after a thorough exam she felt this was premature. I ended up spending quite a bit more for the specialist to do what the regular vet didn't.

I am kind of at the point where I don't know whether to insist he perform testing or just go to another vet. My thinking is if this is CHF, why does she improve with the introduction of the antibiotics?