The Real Faces of Canine Heart Disease: Scout's Story

It wasn’t long after my first Golden Retriever succumbed to Cancer that I found myself rolling around in the grass with my oldest son and two adorable male Golden puppies. One was chunky and one was kind of thin and scrappy looking. I was drawn to the skinny one mainly because of his expressive face. As soon as we brought him home he easily settled in as if he had always lived with us. I have two sons who were 6 and 9 years old at the time and they were thrilled to have a puppy in the house. We decided to name him Scout.

Scout, 8 week old. Just look at that cute little face!

Scout, playing in the backyard.

Scout was not an easy dog to train. I thought he would never get house trained. I would take him outside on regular intervals and it seemed he would hold it until he got back inside and then find his favorite spot on our stairs to do his business. After he received all of his vaccinations I decided to take him on walks on our local trails and parks. On some of walks I noticed that he would just sit down and refuse to move. I thought this was just part of his stubborn nature and never imagined he could have something wrong with him. Then one day I was walking him and he seemed to have a type of small seizure. This happened while he was pulling on his leash to go and meet other dogs. It looked like he just lost his breath from being too excited. I told this to my vet (at the time) but they didn’t seem to think that there was any problem. However, he was diagnosed with Red Mange and put on some very strong medicine. His coat was not fluffy like most Golden’s. It was coarse and wiry so I began to bathe and groom him frequently until his coat began to get luxurious and soft.

In the meantime I was trying to find another vet. I had been going to the same clinic for years but noticed that as soon as I would get attached to one of the vets they would leave. I wanted to find a place where the vet owned the clinic and they would always be there for my dog. After a disappointing visit to a new vet, I was starting to lose hope, when I found Dr. Brooks at Town Center Animal Hospital. I needed to get Scout neutered and we made our first appointment to visit Dr. Brooks. During our first exam Dr. Brooks sat on the floor with Scout and listened to his heart through a stethoscope. He listened and kept listening for a long time. He said, “Has anyone ever told you that your dog has a severe heart murmur?” I told him no one had brought this to my attention as a serious problem. He told me from what he could hear it was a very pronounced murmur and he let me know that he probably wouldn’t be able to undergo surgery. He sent me to the Veterinary Referral Clinic where Scout met his Cardiologist Dr. Forney. He underwent an EKG, X-ray and some other tests. The tests came back positive for sub-aortic stenosis. As Dr. Forney explained this condition to me I began to cry. I couldn’t believe my sweet young dog had such a devastating disease. We were informed that surgery was not an option because of the severity of his heart defect. He told us that surgery and medication had the same results for life expectancy. He said that the walls of Scout’s heart would get thicker and leave no room in the chambers to pump blood. Dogs with this condition could also drop dead without any warning. It was a frightening diagnosis.

Flash forward to 2 1/2 years later. Scout is on Atenolol 25 mg. (he is given 1/2 pill in the AM and the other 1/2 in the PM). It seems to be helping him. He sleeps during the day and he sleeps hard. Many times I have gone over to him to make sure he is still breathing. I never take him outside during the day in the summer (we live in the desert where it gets very hot). I take him on a short 1/2 mile walk every morning and we go at his pace. He seems to be slowing down a little but he also gets bursts of energy where he wants to play with his toys for a few minutes each day.

Scout, 3 1/2 years old.

We take life one day at a time and try not to think about the inevitable. Scout is loved, pampered and a cherished member of our family and we are lucky to have him. Every day that he is here with us, is a great day.