​On January 16, 2016 I returned home after working in support of the Charleston Marathon.  It had been a long day and the weather was cold for South Carolina but the race had gone off without a hitch.  I had been up early, feeding our pack of 4.  There was Lego, our yellow lab; Mischief, our black lab; Mess, our german shepherd; and Chaos, our chocolate lab.  

My wife and kids were out of town in Florida at a continuing education conference and Chaos had recently become un-interested in food.  Our Chaos is your typical 90lb, 4 year old, in tact, english chocolate lab with a huge personality and nearly impervious to everything and as healthy as any other animal.  Over the week leading up to this Saturday, we noticed Chaos had changed the way he was eating.  Chaos was a 'lay on his belly with the food bowl between his paws and take his time' kind of lab when he ate.  Over the past week he began first with standing and eating, to standing and only eating a few bites of kibble, to standing and starring at the the food, to being offered boiled chicken and rice to refusing food altogether.  We chocked it up to the possibility of a neighborhood female in heat and I checked the yard for any signs of foul play.  Finding none, we kept an eye on him and his activity began to decrease slightly towards Saturday.  

I arrived home and was not greeted by Chaos who I had left out of his kennel so that he could make use of the dog door access to the outside in the event he had to.  I checked the house quickly and not finding him I went outside calling for him.  No answer so I checked the gates, the inside again and no luck.  I went back outside and began to check Chaos’s favorite areas one of which was under a travel trailer.  I quickly identified the brown mass of a lab motionless and thought what every other owner would think.  He must be dead.  On my belly I reached under the trailer and grabbed Chaos by the scruff of the neck and the scruff above his tail and his tail gave me one thump on the ground.  Alive!?!  He was cold to the touch and his eyes were open and he had this helpless look on his face.  No muscle tone at all.  As I picked him up I could feel his heart racing and remember thinking “wow thats fast”.  To the warm kitchen floor we went and I retrieved my emergency medical kit and with stethoscope attempted to count the heart rate.  Too fast to even count.  I found no trauma and I picked Chaos up and off to the Charleston Veterinary Referral Center(CVRC) we went.

A gave a quick call to my wife, Chaos’s Veterinarian, to let her know what was happening.  Once at CVRC, they took Chaos right in and his initial heart rate was 352 on the cardiac monitor, no wonder why I couldn’t count his heart rate!  Being trained as a paramedic, fire fighter, and spending the last 15 years as a police officer with 8 in K9, I recognized we had a huge problem.  CVRC was able to stabilize Chaos with some Lidocaine and other emergency medications and he spent several days being monitored.  Ok, I may be downplaying the emergency care a little there.  There were I.V. fluids, x-rays, blood work, ultrasounds, screenings for bio-toxins and other poisons and even a sign on his kennel that read “NO REDHEADS”.  Seems like Chaos likes redheads a little too much.  The sight alone would set his poor little lab heart into a beatin’ frenzy!  CVRC has a resident Cardiologist, Dr. Jesty who is awesome.  The diagnosis was unclear at first and we had developed a plan to have Chaos wear a portable cardiac monitor at home while we adjusted medications to see if any additional cardiac events occurred.  We were prepared to administer a barrage of I.V. drugs if we detected any of the cardiac arrhythmia’s and we were hoping this whole ordeal was a transient event.  Home we went.  Back to the pack.  Back to his normal self eating laying down like he had before.  Well two months passed and as the medications were lowered, we had another event.   We had additional visits with Dr. Jesty and through the process of a good activity journal, the portable cardiac monitor and just having a good Cardiologist, a call was made to Dr. Wright of MedVet Medical and Cancer Center for Pets in Cincinnati, OH for a consult.  After reviewing Chaos’s case, we were left with the diagnosis probability of an accessory pathway and the best course of action was to travel to Cincinnati and have Dr. Wright conduct an electrophysiology study and possibly a radio frequency catheter ablation.  So damn the genetics, as Chaos was supposed to be our breeding sire, we opted in for the surgery which was scheduled 3 weeks out.  

By this time we were all getting good at recognizing changes in Chaos’s behavior which would indicate an episode.  Chaos would typically walk into the room we were in and stand with his head low and stare at the ground.  We would approach him and feel his heart rate through his chest and instantly know.  A shout to one of the kids to grab a syringe of lidocaine and the stethoscope and we would listen to the heart convert back to its regular rhythm.  These events were frequent and so much so that to this day, Chaos identifies with the sight of a stethoscope with feeling better and gets excited.  

The trip to Cincinnati was an eventful one.  Driving from Charleston to Cincinnati on any given Sunday was approximately a 10 hour drive.  One of the challenges we were prepared for was the need to wean Chaos off of any of the longer acting drugs so that the arrhythmia could be duplicated during the procedure giving Dr. Wright the best chance of success.  As expected, this caused multiple events during the trip.  Chaos was sure to let us know he was experiencing a cardiac event a whole 7 times during the trip. Needless to say our the trip took a little longer.  We arrived after 13 hours of travel and checked into the hotel the night before.  On Monday we arrived and met Dr. Wright and Chaos promptly decided to show off his arrhythmia.  Chaos was monitored and prepared for the Tuesday procedure.  Chaos was given a lion’s shave in preparation for the procedure which he was proud to show off along with the sweater that was provided to keep him warm afterwards.  The procedure was a challenge for Dr. Wright, but a success.  Dr. Wright was able to take our chocolate lab after networking with our local cardiologist, schedule and perform an advanced procedure on a dog that amazingly survived what should have been a fatal arrhythmia, and left us with a dog that has ZERO side effects and has recovered 100%. There were no follow on episodes and I am delighted to say Chaos continues to astonish us every day with his amazing personality and unbelievable athletic ability and every day we are thankful for Dr. Jesty and Dr. Wright and the staff of both CVRC and MedVet Medical and Cancer Center for Pets.

Thank you all who helped give us our lab back.

Calley and Scott Hille
Chaos, Lego, Mischief, Mess and Pandemonium
Charleston, SC

Dr. Wright and the staff at Medvet Cincinnati saved my dog’s life.   To be clear, this procedure is a CURE, not a treatment.  I hope my story can help other pet owners understand just how special this process is and encourage any dog parent to go through with it. 

My dog, Dexter, was a healthy 4 year old beagle.  So full of energy and life. Out of nowhere, he collapsed one day and was breathing heavily on the ground.  After emergency treatment and evaluation, he was diagnosed with a genetic arrhythmia, called reentrant tachycardia.  Later, Dr. Wright and her team determined the arrhythmia was actually caused by an accessory pathway.  It was a devastating diagnosis as there was no cure.  Our local vets, while super helpful, informed us that this disease was genetic and could only be managed with medication.  It would be ongoing and carried the risk of sudden death at any time.  My wife and I were so devastated, and couldn’t imagine our  beloved Dexter suddenly dying at any moment.  Luckily, our vet did inform us of another option: the special ablation procedure that Dr. Wright had pioneered.  This is a common procedure in humans, but still a new process for animals.  

This procedure, if successful, would literally burn away the problem and cure our sweet Dexter so he could live a normal full life.  It was a very scary proposition, to travel all way to Cincinnati from San Francisco.  However just the chance that he could be cured, was worth all the unknown scariness of the process. 

I researched airlines and boarding options and came to find there are very real  solutions to all these logistical challenges.  Dexter was able to fly in the cabin with me and stay in a local hotel for the operation.   

It was very scary, but 100% worth the effort. After the procedure, Dexter fully recovered and has been completely cured.  My wife and I are eternally grateful to Dr. Wright and the staff and Medvet.  They saved his life and we cherish him every day.  

We can never thank Dr. Wright enough for her dedication and accomplishment in pioneering this procedure.  If I can do anything to ease the concern of other dog parents going through this difficult process, I want to do it.    My personal email issmfattouh1@gmail.com.  It would be an honor and privilege to assist any owners who have questions or concerns to provide insight into how to make this process smoother.  Please feel free to reach out at any time.

Thanks,
SF 

At just 8 weeks old we brought Mila into our home. With her big brown eyes, eager desire to please, and that clumsy puppy gait, she quickly stole our hearts and from that point on she became a part of our family. When she was around 1 years old, Mila began displaying extreme discomfort after longer bouts of exercise or sometimes just after 15 minutes at the dog park. I would sometimes have to carry her home because she was so lethargic and uncomfortable she couldn’t even finish the walk. Once home she would lay around moaning, with labored breathing, sometimes vomiting or involuntarily urinating until the episode pasted and we had no idea how to help her. I would tell my veterinarian at her check-ups, but they said without seeing these episodes I was describing, they really didn’t know how to help. They became more frequent and Mila’s heart would beat so fast we became afraid she may have a stroke. They tried to help her fast heart rate by treating her with beta blockers, but after 2 years of taking them, Mila’s episodes were getting worse and worse.

Although we were reluctant for financial reasons, we finally took Mila to see a cardiologist when she was 4 years old. She had and ECHO and wore an event monitor for a whole month. We were told that they thought Mila had an accessory pathway in her heart, causing an extra electrical impulse that resulted in Mila’s extremely fast heart rate. Basically, Mila had a heart arrhythmia, and the only doctor in the US that was doing the procedure to fix it was in Ohio. My initial response was naturally, how much money is this going to cost? Driving all the way to Ohio for a dog to have a cardiac ablation? Are we crazy? But after talking with Dr. Wright, she helped us understand that one option would be to continue Mila on the beta blockers and anti-arrhythmia pills, but those too were not cheap, and Mila was still having the episodes happen from time to time while taking them.

Dr. Wright explained that Mila would eventually go into heart failure causing all her other organs to fail and then we would be left with the expense of treating her for all those discomforts as well.  Her life span would be significantly shortened and in that short life she wouldn’t even feel healthy because of her heart arrhythmia. I didn’t like that option, so we decided to go for it despite the expense. We swallowed our pride and started a GoFund me page to help raise money. To our surprise, family and friends were very helpful and understanding. We ended up raising about half the cost of the procedure, which significantly helped in making it more affordable for our family. Dr. Wright and her team were so gracious with their time and answered all our questions so thoroughly.

​Before even traveling to Ohio, they had made me feel so comfortable with our decision. They were upfront and honest with what the procedure would entail and what they anticipated the cost would be. We dropped her off on a Monday and her procedure was the next day. It took around 5 hours and we were notified of the success immediately after. Mila was discharged the next day and other than some bruising and lack of hair, she was the same happy dog as when we dropped her off. The cost was exactly as we were told upfront. Two weeks later, Mila was back at chasing birds, but now, no more medications, no more constant worrying, and no more uncomfortable episodes. I have not regretted doing the procedure once, only that I wish did it sooner for Mila. 

We got our German Shorthaired Pointer Bella when she was about 11 weeks old in April of 2012.  For the first 4 months we had her she was the picture of health, typical high energy, nonstop GSP who took to training extremely well, great appetite not to mention very loving. On the morning of August 11th 2012 she had gone out for a walk, came in the house and for no reason at all just laid down and would not move.  It was obvious her breathing was extremely abnormal and it appeared her heart was beating at a very fast rate.  We scooped her up and rushed her to the vet and he was under the impression she must have swallowed something and he gave her a shot to calm her down which put her right to sleep and continued to sleep for about 6 or 7 hours.  When she woke up she pretty much seemed back to herself until the next day when the same symptoms reappeared and again she was lethargic, wouldn't get up, would not eat, wouldn't go out, etc.

Long story short over the next week or so the vet we took her to kept telling us he was going to do all these different tests however whenever we brought her in he never did anything. I think this was just beyond his scope of experience and did not know what to do at all. At that point we decided to go see a different vet.  Within minutes of getting Bella to the next vet she suspected a condition called tachycardia and referred us to a heart specialist who was about an hour's drive away and we were on our way that afternoon. 

At that point her EKG reading was almost 400 beats per minute and it was clear that our dog was in danger. They immediately started her on a medicine to bring the heart rate down some but not enough.  After a few days or so they added in a 2nd medicine which again worked a little bit better but still not enough. Although the heart rate had somewhat stabilized over the couple weeks, Bella was simply not returning to normal activity, appetite etc.

I believe at this point it's when this New Hampshire  heart specialist contacted Doctor Kathy Wright and Dr. Wright suggested adding in a 3rd medication which at that point corrected her heart beat however this was just a temporary fix as she still had not resumed normal activity or appetite.  We were told about a catheter ablation procedure that Dr. Wright had developed for dogs however we would need to drive from New Hampshire to Ohio for the procedure so we began to make arrangements to do just that.

After consulting with Dr. Wright on the telephone we made the appointment and headed out to see her.  By this time it was November and we were very anxious to have this procedure done hoping it would be successful.  We arrived at the facility on a Thursday, they took Bella in and began to get her off the meds she was taking so the condition she had would come into full effect so they could properly map her heart.  The procedure took place the following day on a Friday and we waited with anticipation until we finally got the call from Dr. Wright that the catheter ablation procedure had been a success.

The very next morning we picked up Bella and made the 10 hour drive back to New Hampshire and she has been completely normal, as good as new and the picture of health ever since and as I write this it's been over 5 years since she had the procedure.  In 2014 we got Bella a little sister, another German Shorthair Pointer named Lena who is 2 years younger and ever since the 2 of them have had a wonderful life playing together, sleeping together, etc etc.

To this day we could not have been happier with Dr. Wright, the facility, staff and the procedure we thank God that we were lead to her and she was able to save our puppy.

Ready more about 7 1/2 month old Nelly the golden retriever, whose arrythmia was successfully ablated  thanks to Dr. Wright and her team and donations from Retrieve a Golden of the Midwest: http://ragom.org/news/auction-dog-nelly-receives-life-saving-heart-surgery

My chocolate Labrador Retriever, Wiglaf, was an adorable puppy with a sparkle in his eye and I was in love with him from the start.  But he was not what I had expected based on all the stories I'd heard and books I'd read.  He could be mischievous at times but he wasn't terribly active and he slept even more than usual.  I thought I hit the puppy jackpot!  But it was not until a problem with his digestion, I thought, had taken us to his Veterinarian for countless visits and tests, that he was ultimately diagnosed with Supraventricular Tachycardia (his heartbeat was once measured at 400 beats per minute).  I was assured this was not fatal and that we could control it with medication.  So we started out with drugs readily available at the neighborhood pharmacy.  At the same time we were referred to the CVCA: Cardiac Care for Pets in northern Virginia, where they reviewed his tests and ordered new ones.  In the cacophony of medical terms and prognoses, one of the cardiologists there suggested that Wiglaf might be a good candidate to undergo a procedure by Dr. Kathy Wright in Ohio.  I couldn't imagine putting Wiglaf through a surgical procedure so I committed to administering his meds, three times a day, indefinitely.  As a young dog (he was diagnosed just after his second birthday), I really had not considered the magnitude of this obligation but I committed to his regimen.  Immediately, the medication worked very well, until the three month mark when his old symptoms returned.  Once again his appetite disappeared, he had difficulty breathing at times, he became lethargic and didn't want to be around anyone.  Quite simply, he became very un-Lab-like.  Then with a tweak of his meds, he would be back to his old self.  But four such episodes of decline convinced me that we could not go on this way.  I contacted CVCA to learn more about Dr. Wright and the procedure.
 
Luckily, Dr. Wright agreed that Wiglaf was a candidate for the cardiac ablation procedure she performed along with her team in Cincinnati.  My father had offered to help with the fees so I would not have to worry about that.  My mother and I drove Wiglaf over to Cincinnati and dropped him off at the Medical Center for tests.  The following day he underwent his Ablation and he responded beautifully.  A member of the team called to report that he had done very well.  A huge relief.  The next morning when they called to say he was ready to go home, I asked, hesitantly, "how is he doing, does he feel okay?"  She responded, "Oh my goodness, he's walking around begging for food!"  My Labrador Retriever was back.  I still marvel at the complexity of the procedure and yet the immediacy of his complete cure.  No longer did he require any heart medication and other than a few sutures, he was without pain and feeling fine.  His subsequent follow up appointments have all been very positive.  I feel indebted to Dr. Wright and her team for saving my best friend.  Wiglaf has become much more active, his bark is ferocious and can be quite intimidating but he is playful and loves to cuddle.  In fact, I still think that with Wiglaf, I hit the jackpot!
​
​- Submitted by Gabi K.

Wig in action this week.