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Our dog Guinness was diagnosed with a SVT cardiac arrhythmia and with the help of our local veterinary cardiologist we managed to keep his condition under control with vigilance and medication for about a year. During this time the medication, as well as the dosage, needed continual modification to keep his arrhythmia stable.
We reached the point where the next type/dose of medication was going to start having significant side effects and our local veterinary cardiologist who had read about Dr Wright, reached out to her. She was very quick to review the case and let us know that Guinness was an excellent candidate for ablation. We then followed up with Dr. Wright who took the time to answer all of our questions and really made us understand exactly what ablation was all about. Once we made the decision to move forward with ablation Dr. Wright and her staff took care of everything, except of course the drive from Rhode Island to Cincinnati. Dr. Wright fell in love with Guinness instantly and the feeling was quite mutual. She took incredible care of him and us and kept us informed throughout the entire process. She was very professional but also personable and I knew right away that she was not letting us leave until our boy’s heart was fixed and that was just what she did. Guinness was off the medication immediately and within a month he was back to his normal self. In fact he was better than normal, he was acting like a puppy again. Our family had almost 3 more wonderful years with him until he passed from an unrelated condition (prostate cancer). The ablation procedure was the best decision our family could have made and we would do it again in a heartbeat. Ablation procedures for humans are commonplace and can completely cure SVT, yet this condition is life threatening for dogs, this is just not right or fair and Dr. Wright is leading the crusade to fix this wrong and is leaving saved dogs and happy families in her wake. If you have a dog suffering with SVT please reach out to Dr. Wright and her team, she is literally a life saver. Mabel entered my life purely by accident. She was a stray that showed up on the porch the day after Fourth of July in 2014. She plopped down and hung out on the porch all day with us. I fed her and provided a place for her sleep while trying to find her owner. She had been spayed and was house broken so she had to be someone’s pet, but she didn’t have a tag or a chip. After a week of advertising, walking the neighbor, and zero inquires, she officially became Mabel Irene and part of the family.
About two weeks later we moved into our new house and that is when the first episode happened. By this time, I had taken her to a vet for a check-up and shots. The vet had determined that she was between 9-12 months, and other than being a little underweight, she seemed perfectly healthy. I had let her out in the backyard and while she was walking around she became very disoriented and started walking like “a drunken sailor” before eventually collapsing onto the grass. I ran out and helped her to her feet, and as quickly as the episode started, it was over. I called the vet and since she was “normal” by the time I got her there, it was determined everything was fine. These episodes continued very sporadically over the next couple of years. At one of her yearly check-ups, the vet found an irregular heartbeat and referred her to a cardiologist. I wasn’t connecting the episodes with the irregular heartbeat and never brought these up to the vet. Since the cost of seeing a cardiologist for a dog is so expensive and she seemed to recover from these episodes every time, I didn’t seek a consult. In January 2017, she had another episode. However, this episode was worse than any previous one. When she collapsed she didn’t recover and couldn’t walk on her own. I called the vet and she told me I needed to see the cardiologist, who didn’t have an appointment until the next day. I’ve never owned a pet before and didn’t even realize there was such a thing as an animal ER. Mabel laid on the couch with a very rapid heart rate for 3 hours that day; you could actually see her heart racing through her chest. Luckily, I found the right person to diagnose her problem, but she would require a costly surgery. I basically had to decide whether to put her down or pay for the surgery. I asked if I could have time to think about it and before I could even put the phone down, Dr. Wright called me back with a way to help finance the surgery. She was instrumental in connecting me with Ellie’s Rainy Day Fund, which paid for the surgery. Mabel is a happy, healthy, almost 5-year old now and I can’t imagine life without her. I am so grateful to both Dr. Wright and Ellie’s Rainy Day Fund for saving Mabel! Otter is a Border Collie and had his heart condition first diagnosed in June 2012 by the University of Wisconsin Madison, Cardiologists. Otter had orthodromic atrioventricular reciprocating tachycardia due to an accessory pathway. In 2016 his conditions started declining to where his twice daily medications were no longer capable of keeping his heart rate under control.
The UW Madison Wisconsin, Cardiology folks contacted Dr. Wright’s office and had the ablation procedure scheduled for the later part of September 2016. Dr. Wright was the only Veterinary Cardiologist in the United States full time performing the canine ablation procedure. At this point it was suggested we get the Kardia monitoring device so we could keep an eye on Otter’s heartrate on a regular timeframe while at home. Daily monitoring indicated his heart function was in decline. In mid August 2016 Otter’s heartrate started getting very erratic, at times his heartrate was over 400bpm’s! Dr. Wright cleared her and her teams schedule to perform the ablation procedure on Otter the following week. Meanwhile, I rushed Otter over 200 miles to the UW Madison Cardiology specialists to get him medically stabilized for his 450 mile trip from Madison, WI to Cincinnati, Ohio. I picked Otter up from UW Madison Wisconsin on Monday, August 22, 2016 at 2:30am, boy was he glad to see me! We made it to MedVet, Cincinnati in record time and DR. Kathy Wright was there to meet us. When I walked in the door carrying Otter, I was asked “Is this Otter?”, before we ever got to the reception counter! This was just the beginning of the incredible care Otter would receive! Dr. Wright explained to me it would be best for Otter to remain calm immediately after the procedure for a few days and that I not see him during this time. This was obviously way harder on me than Otter since he was getting lots of attention! During this time Dr. Wright and her staff stayed in constant communication with me to keep me aware of how Otter was recovering! 19 months after the procedure, Otter is still my very well behaved and mild mannered 24/7 Service Dog! But, when Otter goes outside without his vest it’s like someone flipped a switch, he is 200% border collie! Otter and I completed a four month, 25,000+ mile car camping trip through Canada and Alaska in 2017. Dr. Wright and her team are second to none! Her diligence in following up on Otter’s post-surgery check-ups and data has been nothing less than commendable! Without Dr. Wright’s care I would be stuck! One of Otter’s talents is untrainable and less than 10% of dogs worldwide can do it. Having Otter in my life is a blessing I can’t come close to explaining! I could never recommend anyone else for this type of care for your beloved family member or service dog! Larry & Otter  Today Harry is celebrating his 7th birthday and is receiving lots of hugs, taking in the brisk New York sunshine and getting plenty of biscuits. Nothing but royalty for Handsome Harry, but we would not have it any other way.
I cannot believe where the seven years went. When we brought Harry home he was your typical healthy puppy full of energy and very mischievous. All of this shortly changed when Harry was about 2 years old. We noticed he not eating, fatigue and coughing a lot. We thought a simple trip to our local vet would get him back to being the Harry our family always knew. This sadly was not the case. Our local vet discovered that his heart rate was unusually fast and recommended that he see a cardiology specialist. After a week in the hospital the doctors worked around the clock to get his rate under control. Harry was in congestive heart failure and the only option was 7 different medications. We were then told that this would give Harry some time and he would be comfortable but he would not have the quality and longevity of life that many Labrador retrievers enjoy. My children researched that another option existed and could potentially cure his heart condition. First my son reached out to Cornell and then Dr. Kathy Wright was highly recommended and is a pioneer in performing a minimally invasive procedure to slow down Harry’s heart. Without giving a second thought we travelled from our home in New York to Cincinnati Ohio. When Harry came home his he made a quick and full recovery. The care he received under Dr. Wright and the procedure he had was nothing short of a miracle. We thank Dr. Wright for the wonderful care he received and bringing new life into Handsome Harry. Sincerely, Kathryn S.  Our fun-loving yellow labrador was having health issues a year or so into his life. In layman terms, he had additional electric pulses in his heart that were causing his blood flow to be erratic. (myocarditis/endocarditis/pericarditis, valvular murmur, arrhythmia, pulmonary edema). He periodically lost his appetite and you knew he was not feeling his usual upbeat self.
We were utilizing SAGE veterinary centers in the San Francisco Bay Area and they did do all they could for his erratic heartbeat with medications. However Milo was still not well and Dr. Waxman at SAGE Veterinary Center recommended speaking to heart specialist Kathy Wright DVM, Dipl. ACVIM (Cardiology and small animal internal medicine) in Cincinnati Ohio. At that time she and another veterinarian were the only two doctors in the world implementing an ablation technique that allowed a very high success rate in allowing normal heart function with animals with abnormal heart rates and function. Dr. Waxman discussed Milo with Dr. Wright and it was determined that Milo was a good candidate for the ablation technique. After speaking with Dr. Wright we learned she had a very high level of successful surgeries historically and she felt that Milo would be a good candidate for this specialized surgery. When Milo and I arrived in Cincinnati after driving across the country from the San Francisco Bay Area I was impressed with the level of professionalism at Dr. Wright's hospital. Also I was pleasantly surprised to hear the amount of assistance Dr. Wright would have in the operating room that included beyond her: a pediatric cardiologist, an anesthesiologist and ~ 5 other nurses/ assistants. Needless to say Milo was in very good medical hands. Granted no medical procedure is without risk, Dr. Wright gave me the belief that with a high probability Milo would be better off with the procedure than without. As an end result our loving positive Labrador was allowed a second lease on life. It has been 3 years since his operation and although he does take a few medications that keep his heart and respiratory system in safe check (due to a separate heart issue that Milo had prior to the procedure), he is very much full of life and enjoys the basics of life every day as if there was no tomorrow. We were greatly blessed to meet Dr. Wright and recommend highly any dog owner who has similar heart issues that we had with our dog. The people in Cincinnati are the utmost professionals that empathetically provide a great service to veterinary world. -Kent, Marcia, & Alex H.  We all love our dogs! Many of us consider them members of our families. I am a school counselor who is blessed to have an amazing (certified) school/facility (therapy) dog named Skype. Skype comes to school every day and is loved by everyone who meets her. She provides unconditional acceptance and love to over 350 middle school students and their teachers. She doesn’t care who is the smartest or who struggles. It doesn’t matter to her whose family has the most money or who is having a hard time making ends meet. Skype loves ALL her students! Last fall, Skype, my 2 year old lab stopped eating, but had been vomiting and also seemed totally exhausted. I took her to the vet where they took x-rays and did bloodwork. Everything came back normal, but her heart was beating dangerously fast. It was beating over 350 beats per minute!! They didn’t know what could cause her heart to beat so fast & were worried about her. They suggested I take her to the cardiologist at our local emergency vet hospital. Skype was admitted &; spent 3 days in the ICU while receiving IV medications to get her heart rate under control. The cardiologist told me Skype has a heart arrhythmia, which can be treated in either of two ways. She could prescribe meds (which Skype would take every 8 hours for the rest of her life) or she could refer us to cardiologist who pioneered a special surgical procedure that would fix her heart. First we tried the meds for 2-3 weeks. Even after adjusting them twice, they did not control Skype’s rapid irregular heart rate. Poor Skype. She felt so bad. She still wouldn’t eat and didn’t want to do anything except lay on her bed. We were told there was a real danger Skype would die suddenly from a “cardiac event.” We realized our only hope was the surgical procedure. The cardiologist contacted & sent Skype’s records to Dr. Kathy Wright, from MedVet Cincinnati. We received news that Skype was a good candidate for the procedure! Dr. Wright’s cardiac team contacted me and a date for the surgery was set. Our plan was to leave home on a Sunday morning to make the 10 ½ hour drive to Cincinnati. We’d spend Sunday night in a hotel with Skype and take her to MedVet clinic Monday morning. That day she’d be admitted and prepped for the procedure that would take place the next morning. On Wednesday, we would get to bring our girl Skype home. During the two weeks before our trip to Cincinnati, Dr. Wright emailed me several times to see how Skype was doing. She answered my questions about the upcoming procedure and helped ease my fears. Being able to contact her was a huge comfort. I was worried Skype would die before we could get her to Dr. Wright to have her heart fixed. Two days before we planned to drive to Cincinnati, Skype took a turn for the worse. Even without any physical activity, her heartrate was up to 280 and she was so exhausted she could barely walk a few feet. At Dr. Wright’s suggestion, Skype was again admitted to our local emergency pet hospital’s ICU where she stayed until the morning we left for Ohio. Upon our evening arrival in Cincinnati, Dr. Wright asked us to bring Skype directly to MedVet hospital so the cardiac team could take over her care. What a scary time! I didn’t want to leave her, but we were told we could call the hospital any time of the day or night to check on Skype’s condition. Skype was so excited to see us the next morning, her heart rate went sky high. We met with Dr. Wright who reviewed the procedure and what to expect. She answered all our questions and helped alleviate our fears. We knew Skype was in good hands! Early Tuesday afternoon, we cried with relief when Dr. Wright called to tell us the surgery was a success! She had fixed the issue causing Skype’s irregular heart rhythms! We picked Skype up the next day and brought her home. We limited her activity for the next week to allow her tiny incisions to heal completely. After that – she was able to return to school and to her normal life!!!  The change in her energy and appetite were immediate and amazing. We will be forever grateful to Dr. Wright and her team for healing Skype’s heart and for returning to us our silly wiggly girl! If you are reading this, please know that there is hope for your dog to live a long, healthy, and happy life!!
-Angie R. Gus actually won the American College of Veterinary Internal Medicine (ACVIM) Survivor story. Read about Gus' compelling story here: How a Special Cardiac Procedure Gave a Young Boxer a New Lease on Life. At 5 weeks old, our very mixed-breed rescue dog, Spot, survived the fury of the Hurricane Harvey storms in an outdoor shelter in Houston. The shelter he was at needed his space for Hurricane Harvey victim's pets, so to save him from being put to sleep, a rescue group in San Diego sent Spot on a 25 hour bus ride to California along with his sister. We fostered Spot and his sister for 10 days, after which we "foster failed" and adopted Spot into our family of five.
He was four months old when our vet discovered our sweet puppy's heart arrhythmia during a routine exam in 2017. We felt overwhelmed when we learned later it was a serious focal atrial tachycardia, which required strict limits on exercise and lifelong medicine which had side effects. The medicine would likely become less effective over time, and it was expected he would need increasingly more aggressive medicine to treat his condition. I understood that the secondary effects of having a heart that was beating too fast would likely include eventual enlargement of his heart which would lead to congestive heart failure. His quality of life would be quite limiting even with the medicine and he could deteriorate very rapidly. Through our own online research we found Dr. Wright and her team. She had so much expertise and experience and her success rates were very good. At the time, as we are still saving for the kids' college, the cost did give us a slight pause to process and put it into perspective. The total cost for the surgery and short trip to Cincinnati was less than two serious ER visits not to mention a couple years of heart monitoring and heart medicine. It was also about the same cost as one ACL surgery another dog of ours had previously. Some pet insurance even covers most of the expense. We decided we needed to give him his best chance at having a good quality of life and lifespan. In less than a month, with cooperation from our San Diego Cardiologist, vet, and the help from a wonderful trainer in 3 weeks time, we flew with our 40 pound puppy to Cincinnati for the surgery. The MedVet Cincinnati office was beautiful and the team of experts who assist with the surgery sound very accomplished. Spot was pampered at the MedVet office (at one point they were playing harp music for him) and we picked him up the day after surgery without a single stitch. We noticed his increased energy levels the day we picked him up, which rose significantly for the first month after the procedure (we thought he was just a mellow dog before). Spot had a complex and rare focal atrial arrhythmia and his results have been incredible. The post-operative medical records from his cardiologist in San Diego indicate that there is no trace of his supraventricular tachycardia on ECG's now and he requires no medicine. He will continue follow-up monitoring yearly by a cardiologist in San Diego with rental holter equipment already included in the MedVet quote. Still we pinch ourselves every day that Dr. Wright and her team, in cooperation with our cardiology group here, were able to give our puppy a new lease on life. He is a great big snuggler when he's relaxed, but he absolutely loves zooming around and wrestling with his sister, furiously digging giant holes in the sand, and galloping at full speed, all of which he would have been restricted from doing before. He enjoys every precious minute of his life living in the moment and reminds us to do the same. It all still seems like such a miracle to us. Julie B. from San Diego, CA |
Owners of Dr. Wright's patientsWe are all owners of pets with tachycardia's/heart rates that were much too fast. Dr. Wright and her team saved our dogs with their minimally invasive ablation surgery. Archives
December 2020
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