When I took blind Austin the Beagle to our vet clinic in Helena yesterday, I also brought along blind Lady, the old girl who came to us about a month ago from Missoula Animal Control. A week after she arrived, our vets did an echocardiogram and found that Lady had a serious heart problem — mitral valve regurgitation — that had caused pulmonary edema, or fluid building up in her chest. She also had Cushing’s disease and a major urinary tract infection. Based on her heart condition, they didn’t think she’d have long to live … a matter of months, most likely.
We started her on multiple heart medications, antibiotics for the infection, and a British drug for Cushing’s called trilostane, under the brand name Vetoryl. (It’s not approved for sale in the U.S. yet but the FDA allows veterinarians to order it from the U.K. through a special process.)
So Lady was due for another echocardiogram and other tests to assess her heart function and see how well she was responding to the medications. Our vet Dr. Jennifer Rockwell called today with good news from the echo: While Lady’s left atrium is still enlarged, it has improved, as has her heart’s ‘contractility,’ or pumping ability. Best of all, there was also no fluid building up in her chest, which was a very good sign and a major improvement.
Jennifer was cautiously optimistic that given these trends, Lady might be able to live longer than they originally thought when they first saw her. And that was great to hear!
I took the photo above of Lady a couple of weeks ago after we had her groomed … her thick, shaggy coat was terribly matted underneath, so she needed to be shaved down. She is mostly deaf, we learned, but if you’re within about 10 feet of her and speak VERY LOUDLY, she can hear you … and then she starts wagging that fluffy tail of hers in a happy greeting!
Rolling Dog Farm Blog 
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