My little girl has Patent Ductus Arteriosus, or PDA. Basically she's got a hole in her heart and she's had trouble getting in oxygen. She's already in the early stages of heart failure.
Extremely bad news is that she's too young to have the heart closed surgically, but somewhat good news is that a specialist a few hours away has been trying a certain procedure on "older" dogs. We are going on Friday to see if she's a candidate for that procedure. If not, she apparent;y only has a few more months to live.
I'm a basket case. I didn't sleep last night, my eyes are practically swollen shut and I feel sick.
I'm kicking myself for not bringing her in months ago to be checked again, but they said I could wait.
I'm hoping this doctor can do something.
Keep her in your prayers (if you're as animal goofy as I am.)
Arggg.... I thought it might be something like this
A patent ductus arteriosis is when a vessel that runs between two large vessels near the heart - Known as the 'Pulmonary Trunk' and the 'Aorta' doesn't shut when it is ment to. This causes blood to run 'the wrong way' in the body and the heart gets stressed.
See, when the puppy is the the womb it doesn't breath. This means that the blood doesn't need to be oxygenated in the lungs as the mum supplies oxygen to the puppy. So, instead of the blood leaving the right side of the heart in the 'pulmonary trunk and heading to the lungs, the 'ductus arteriosis' redirects the blood into the vessel that comed from the left side of the heart to supply the rest of the body - the aorta.
When the puppy is born this vessel is ment to close down over a peroid of about 2 days and the blood is then ment to flow from the right side of the heart, to the lungs to get oxygen and then back to the left side of the heart where it is pumped via the aorta to the rest of the body.
If this vessel does not shut you get problems. This is because the blood in the aorta is at a much greater pressure than the blood in the pulmonary trunk. So the 'patent ductus arteriosis' lets the blood in the aorta flow into the pulmonary trunk. This is known as a 'left to right shunt'. (Blood flows from the left to the right).
This causes the lungs to get 'flooded' with blood - and this makes the right side of the heart work really hard to try to push against all that extra blood. This extra load on the heart can then cause 'right sided heart failure'.
Once the heart gets really stressed the 'right sided heart failure' can then go on to cause 'left sided heart failure' as well - meaning that the whole heart is under a lot of stress.
The shunt also stresses the lungs as they get 'packed' (congested) with all the extra blood. So, after a while, the lungs get 'fibrosed' or scar tissue forms in it, due to all the extra pressure on it. This means that the pressure builds up in the pulmonary vessel and the pressure changes so there is more pressure in this vessel than in the aorta. This then causes the unoxygenated blood to flow from the pulmonary vessel to the aorta - a reversal of the initial blood flow. (a 'right to left shunt').
This is when it gets more serious as it means the body is getting unoxygenated blood, instead of the healthy oxygenated blood from the left side of the heart. Once this occurs, the outcomes of surgery are not as good as if you catch it before the shunt reverses.
DO NOT BLAME YOURSELF! There was NOTHING that could have been done about this - it was something that Tyler was born with! It should have been picked up when she was a tiny teeny puppy, before you got her! And you would have had no idea that it was occuring!
Go and talk to the other doctor - see what they say, there is always hope for surgery.
Altho not a puppy, my second son had PDA as well as another heart defect (he was born prematurely) His PDA was closed at 3 weeks old using Indomethasone. I wonder if they can use the same thing for a puppy? My son was only 2 pounds 12 oz when he had his closed. I am not sure if it would work, since it has been so long, but it might be worth asking about. Good luck with Tyler!!
Aw ,ya know, she's just wanting to be loved. She dosen't even have a clue that something is wrong with her. It's in her eyes and her expression. Her picture made me so sad, to think of such a sweetheart having to go through something like this and not be able to ask why, just like a baby that is sick and can't express her thoughts or emotions in words. Sometimes I regret having animals because I can't stand to see them suffer so silently, but the good loving times far outweigh the bad. Sorry if I bummed you out Lucy, things like this really tug on my heartstrings, I guess I'm animal goofy too! And a man wouldn't become an animal specialist if he didn't truly care about animals just as much as a pediatric specalist would care about babies, so he will try everything he can to save your baby just as if she were human, and anything is possible these days! Have faith Lucy.
My hopes are with you and your dog. Your dog's is so innocent in that pic. I have a German Shephard dog, myself, and I can only imagine how hard it is for you right now.
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