I'm staying with the rescue furever!

Finally free from 10+ years as a doodle breeder at a puppy mill,  Bob was scheduled to be neutered and have a dental cleaning when a pre-anesthetic EKG saved his life.

An EKG measures the electrical activity of your heart, or the impulses that cause your heart to beat, contract, and push blood out to your body. Without this EKG, we would never have known that Bob suffers from a heart arrhythmia. Surgery was cancelled and SPIN immediately approved further diagnostics to try and get to the bottom of Bob’s heart problems.

Chest x-rays and an abdominal ultrasound revealed another BIG problem. Not only did Bob have a heart arrhythmia - Bob’s stomach was the size of his abdomen (full of gas) making him at an extremely high risk for gastric torsion, otherwise known as Bloat. It was apparent Bob had been suffering from this condition long term as his stomach was now like a balloon that had been blown up too many times - it couldn’t get back to normal size and digest food effectively. Bob was put on medication to help food move through his GI tract and a special veterinary diet exclusively -- which meant, no more treats for Bob.

A Cardiologist appointment was booked - could Bob’s heart survive anesthesia? The cardiologist performed an Echocardiogram on Bob. An echocardiogram looks at the structure of your heart. The good news was that by improving Bob’s GI tract, his arrhythmia was improved. The bad news? SPIN’s help came too late and the damage to his heart was extensive.

Bob has been given 6-12 month before the cardiologist expects him to go into heart failure. He would not survive anesthesia so a neuter and a dental won’t happen. Bob’s GI issues need to closely monitored and his stress levels kept to a minimum, as he wouldn’t survive a surgery, even a surgery to save his life.

For now, Bob is doing well on his GI meds, veterinary diet and 2 medications for his heart. He can’t have any treats, BUT but he has discovered a love of car rides, balls and anything that squeaks. We love you Bob!