January 2010 - Katie Walker
Courageous Katie
Katie is an 8 year old Cavalier King Charles Spaniel who has been nominated to become this month’s Braveheart for her on going bravery throughout her course of treatment.
Katie was adopted by her owners 18 months ago after being used as a breeding dog for most of her life. Her new loving owners brought Katie in for a health check and microchip in August 2008. It was discovered that Katie was suffering from a mild heart murmur. A heart murmur is a noise caused by an abnormal flow of blood through the heart. At this time, Katie was not showing any clinical signs of the heart murmur and was happy in her self, despite being slightly overweight. The vet recommended that Katie should be referred to one of our nurses for a free weight check. We placed Katie on to a suitable obesity diet and calculated the amount necessary to encourage a gradual weight loss.
In October 2008, Katie was scanned on our, then new, Doppler ultrasound machine. The scan revealed that Katie’s heart murmur was caused by a small leak in her mitral valve (the left sided valve between the atrium and the ventricle) but this was not causing any problems and so no treatment was required at that time. Katie was beginning to shed those extra pounds she had piled on and was now starting to look trim and had achieved a waist line!
A year later in October 2009, Katie came in for a routine booster vaccination. During the general check up that is performed before a booster is given, it was discovered that her heart murmur had got worse. Katie had another scan and her leak had deteriorated. This was therefore causing extra strain on her heart muscles. It was predicted Katie would go into congestive heart failure soon and so some medication was started to try to delay this. She was placed on to diuretics to reduce the amount of fluid gathering in her lungs along with a medication to reduce the blood pressure and increase the venous and arterial space. These drugs reduce the work load of the heart.
In November 2009 Katie collapsed whilst out for her daily walk. She begun to tremble and became weaker until she was unable to move. Two of the nurses rushed out to collect Katie. A clinical examination revealed no explanation for the collapse and Katie was allowed home with close monitoring. She recovered well from this episode but unfortunately had another episode in December; she was placed on to an extra medication which would enable the heart to beat stronger.
Katie and her owners still attend the weight clinics every two months, she is trying hard to maintain her feminine figure, but like us all, she gives into the odd treat occasionally! While her heart problem has not been cured, her medication now allows her to enjoy a good quality of life hopefully for many months to come.
