Furry Friends Foster and Rescue, Inc., has defined part of our mission as providing medical care for animals who need more than the normal vaccines, tests, and spay/neuter that are done for every dog in our rescue. Normally, we will bring a dog into our rescue knowing ahead of time that they need medical care. In Ramsey's situation, his condition was discovered after he came into our rescue.
Anyone who meets Ramsey will see a happy, goofy, friendly, lovable dog who is a total ham. He has a continual smile on his face. At just about two years old, we pulled him from Ansonia Animal Shelter. He had been used for breeding - in fact, he came in with another dog who was pulled by another rescue - and had puppies shortly afterwards who were Ramsey's offspring. He looked sad and scared in the shelter - but he hasn't stopped smiling since he hopped in the car for his freedom ride. He is a totally awesome dog!
The first indication that anything was wrong was when our vet noted that he had a grade 3 heart murmur. He recommended that an echocardiagram be done. That was done last week, and Ramsey unfortunately was diagnosed with pulmonic stenosis - a congenital heart defect. The valve between the pulmonic artery and the right ventricle is constricted, limiting blood flow.
We followed up yesterday with a trip to Tufts Veterinary Hospital for Ramsey. He was seen there by a cardiologist, who repeated the echocardiagram for better definition of the images. Here are his findings:
The cardiologist concurs with the diagnosis of pulmonic stenosis and says it is severe. He said that the repeat echocardiagram showed clearly the enlargement of the right ventricle. The good news - if there is any - is that it is valvular only - the pulmonary artery appears to be normal size and not hypoplastic. If the pulmonary artery were also constricted, the outcome of surgery would be more in question.
He said that the tricuspid valve appears to be a little bit leaky. In his experience that is not something that can be fixed with the surgery, but it is also not something that would become noticeably worse, and should not cause significant problems going forward.
Pressure reading is exceedingly high. He said normal pressure would be 20-25 and Ramsey's reading is 180, which shows clearly the severity of his impairment.
Because of all that, if left untreated, Ramsey's condition would, in all likelihood, deteriorate and progress to having fainting episodes, congestive heart failure (fluid build up) and eventually sudden death.
The cardiologist is recommending surgery. The procedure - balloon valvuloplasty - consists of a balloon catheter being inserted through the artery to the valve and then inflated to ease the constriction of the valve.
Although Ramsey would need to be monitored periodically throughout his life, the cardiologist feels that the surgery would extend both his life and his quality of life significantly.
Surgery does not have to be immediate, but there is a window of opportunity - probably about 3 months - during which time the surgery has the best chance of having a positive outcome.
His records have been forwarded to a surgeon, who will provide a specific estimate. but we're looking at a bill in the neighborhood of $3,800-$4,200 for the procedure, before any rescue discount is applied.
This is in addition to approximately $600 already spent for the echocardiagram at Central and the consultation at Tufts, both of which charges included rescue discounts.
This is going to be a very heavy lift for our rescue, and we will be posting multiple fundraisers specifically for Ramsey's surgery.
As a rescue, we are 100% committed to doing everything in our power to address the needs of our animals - whether medical or behavioral.
Ramsey needs this surgery if he is going to live any sort of a happy, healthy life. With the surgery he has a good chance for a number of years of normal life. Without it, the quality of his life would go downhill and the length of his life would be short. Each of us on the FFFR Board would do this for our own personal dogs, and we can do no less for a dog in our rescue.
because
RAMSEY DESERVES IT!
You can donate through this fundraiser, or by PayPal using the following link:
http://www.furryfriendsct.org/donate
This one's going to take a village, folks, but our Ramsey is SO worth it!
Furry Friends Foster and Rescue, Inc. is an approved 501c3 public charity. All donations are tax deductible.
