Monday, August 28, 2006

Kim had an interesting experience recently. She took our other Cavaliers, Bella and Twyla, to the monthly Cavalier Park Day on Saturday. As she approached the group with the girls on leash, a woman commented that it must be difficult to handle three Cavaliers by herself. Kim replied, "No, I only have two of them," and the woman said "Oh, I was sure I saw you with three." Kim didn't think anything of it at the time, but later it occurred to her to wonder if a little tricolor ghost had been tagging along. Maybe Twyla doesn't just bark at "nothing" sometimes.
As an assist to recognizing MVD emergency signs, I will give examples of Darcy's behavior for the symptoms listed in Lessons Learned Part 1:

1) discomfort exhibited by restlessness or the inability to get comfortable;
Darcy would move from spot to spot never staying more than several minutes in any one spot. Sometimes she would lie on her side, then sit up and then lay on her stomach all in the same spot and all within a short time. She would try to lie in our laps but would get down within a few minutes.

2) shallow and more rapid breathing (panting). Anything above 30-35 breaths per minutes is too rapid;
No explanation needed. Count the breaths. Too many, take your cavalier in.

3) visible heartbeat due to an enlarged heart;
Darcy's heart was so enlarged her body would "bounce" in time with her heartbeats when she was lying on the floor. Also, we could feel a very strong heartbeat when she would lie in our laps. Your cavalier might not visibly exhibit such an enlarged heart but if you can feel it just by lightly placing your hand on your dogs chest it's pretty strong.

4) a look of worry or panic (this is due to an inability to get enough oxygen either through restricted breathing or cardiac output);
Sometimes the look is interpreted to be "spacy" rather than worried or panicky but it is definitely not a usual alert look for a cavalier. The eyes may seem to not focus on anything in particular.

5) labored, raspy, or "wet" breathing sounds.
Darcy's breathing would sound wet, almost as if she had a chest cold, but there wouldn't be any sneezing. There was also the classic "hacking (or gagging) cough" which had been ongoing for a while.

Friday, August 25, 2006

Lessons Learned: Part 1

When to seek emergency treatment for MVD (or CVD).

All three of Darcy's visits to the emergency hospital were immediately preceded by episodes of visible cardiac and respiratory distress. Based on Darcy’s experience and our subsequent discussions with many cardiologists, these signs include but are not limited to

1) discomfort exhibited by restlessness or the inability to get comfortable;
2) shallow and more rapid breathing (panting). Anything above 30-35 breaths per minutes is too rapid;
3) visible heartbeat due to an enlarged heart;
4) a look of worry or panic (this is due to an inability to get enough oxygen either through restricted breathing or cardiac output);
5) labored, raspy, or "wet" breathing sounds.

It is imperative that an owner get their cavalier to an emergency clinic (or some facility with oxygen cages or tents) not just their vet as soon as possible when even just several of these symptoms appear; delaying oxygen treatment can lead to a cascade failure of major body systems. Our family vet even advised us to NOT bring Darcy to his office since they did not have oxygen facilities. As the body suffers from decreased oxygen delivery to vital organs, blood is diverted from peripheral limbs and organs resulting in oxygen deprivation damage to muscle, eyes, limbs, and kidneys which may be already compromised by drugs. Additionally the heart beats faster to try to deliver more blood (which it can't push due to its damaged valves) which requires more oxygen, which results in more rapid breathing, more panic, etc.

Luckily for Darcy, Kim was familiar with the many signs due to her writing research. I know now what these signs mean but if we had waited based on my ignorance, Darcy would never have made it past her first emergency.