Buford--Heart Problems May Be The Cause

He's been at the VSCD in Newport for 24 hours....and since that time has undergone an abdominal ultrasound, abdominal xrays, chest xrays, and tons of blood work.  All of that revealed that for a Cushing's dog, Buford is rock solid healthy.  But it also revealed an enlarged left ventricular chamber as well as a substantial heart murmur.

This prompted me to agree (think more money now) to have him examined by the cardiologist who did an ultrasound on his heart.

Findings: His mitral valve and tricuspid valve are both not closing properly, his heart is overworking because of this and his blood pressure is elevated.  

He is being put on meds to 1) lower his blood pressure and 2) ease the workload on his heart. They believe this will ease the coughing and gagging that they feel is being caused by the extra stress on his heart as well as the enlarged left chamber that is putting pressure against his trachea.

**If his symptoms are not relieved by this treatment they will do a thoracic wash and see if there are lung problems.  This will not be done right now however--we are going to give the heart meds a chance first.

As long as he keeps food down tonight he will be released first thing in the morning.

A Buford Moment of Levity:  Prior to calling me this evening, the night emergency doc, Dr. Vicari, gave him some food.  She said she had to count all of her fingers to make sure she didn't lose any when he tried to snatch it out of her hands!  She was not angry in the least--she was laughing about it and added, "I think he's had enough of us and wants to go home."   Clearly the boy is not a happy camper!