Being a breeder......

....... some times sucks

At være opdrætter er ikke nemt….. :(

Vi har altid stået inde for vores opdræt, vores valg, og har fra start valgt at stå frem og være ærlige og åbne… Det gør vi også nu…!

Jeg var hos dyrlægen med Movies vidunder hvalpe onsdag d. 20. januar til check og vaccinationer so 8 uger .... Dyrlægen roser hvalpene, men da han skal sundheds tjekke Wauw, spørg han ind til om alle skal sælges til agility hjem, og hvor de skal flytte hen.. Jeg stoler på min dyrlæge, og han kender mine hunde., og ved hvad jeg laver med dem, og hvad jeg opdrætter for..

Dyrlægen synes at Wauws hjerte bankede meget hurtigt ......

Wauw var planlagt at skulle flytte til udlandet, til et agility hjem.. Dyrlægen synes så at hun bør tjekkes igen inden hun flytter ... Så jeg ringede på vejen hjem til den næste dyrlægen, og fik at vide jeg skulle ringe næste morgen, hvilket jeg gjorde ... først fik jeg et nej, da han var fuldt booket ... Men så forklarede jeg ham, at den nye ejer kom faktisk senere samme dag, for at se hende, så jeg virkelig ønskede at give hende nogle svar .... Jeg blev heldigvis presset ind til en aftale hos specialisten i Næstved, men jeg vidste ikke hvor lang tid jeg fik, og om han kun ville lytte på hende, eller også scanne ... 

kl. 11 torsdag d. 21. jnuar mødte jeg op med alle hvalpene, da Sum og Nish (New)’s nye ejere var ankommet fra lufthavnen, og ville passe på de andre hvalpe i mens Wauw blev undersøgt..

Jeg er meget taknemmelig for at de ville blive hos mig, så jeg ikke var alene når jeg fik ”en diagnose” og måske også en dom….. 

Specialisten startede med at lytte, og sagde hurtigt at hun havde en hjertefejl, men kunne ikke sige mere før han havde scannet hende, og han sagde heldigvis at han ville gøre dette med det samme!

Vi snakkede lidt om hvad han troede det var, og jeg spurgte direkte ind til om diagnosen kunne betyde en aflivning, han gav et kort svar ”ja”, og jeg var grædefærdig… Nu skulle hun scannes, og hun skulle ligge på siden, vågen. En sygeplejerske holdt hendes bagben, og jeg skulle styre hendes front og hoved….. Jeg havde en idé i mit hoved at scanningen var hurtigt overstået, da jeg vidste at dyrlægen havde travlt, og hun skulle være vågen i mens…. Men det viste sig at være helt forkert…. 

Wauw havde i starten lidt svært ved at ligge stille længe af gangen, og da han skulle scanne i mellem ribbenene, hvor der er begrænset med plads, var det vigtigt hun lå helt stille!

Jeg lagde mig ind over bordet, og lagde hovedet ned til hendes, så kiggede hun mig dybt ind i øjnene, og fokuserede på mig, og faldt så til ro! At se ind i hendes store sorte øjne, en hel time, og ikke kende udfaldet af scanningen var utrolig hårdt!!!

1 time efter (!) kom dommen, hun har en hjerte fejl kaldet PDA.

 En som hun ikke kan leve med, men specialisten nævnte at hvis dette var den eneste defekt, kunne hun få en operation som ville redde hendes liv. Der er altid risici ved operationer, og i sær når det angår hjerte og kredsløb, og vi skulle vide at det var dyrt.. 

Men når man kigger ind i disse øjne.....hvad betyder penge...!

PDA: http://www.peteducation.com/article.cfm?c=2+2096&aid=865

Kort fortalt om sygdommen: Når hvalpen er inde i maven trækker moren vejret for dem, dvs at blodet ikke bliver transporteret til lungerne, men det strømmer igennem en anden bloåre som kører fra det ene kammer til det andet, og uden om lungerne. Men når hvalpen (eller en baby) bliver født, og hvalpen trækker vejret selv, så lukkes dette hul/blodåre, og blodet vil nu blive ført ud til lungerne. Dette hul er ikke blevet lukket af sig selv hos Wauw. Så hendes hjerte er på overarbejde hele tiden, og pumper rundt over det hele.

Hjerte fejl "generelt" kan være genetisk disponeret, men de kan ikke helt finde ud af hvordan og i hvilke .... Og de siger også, at der ikke er nogen grund til at stoppe avl på mor eller far, heller ej søskende til den syge hvalp, men de siger ikke at avle på den syge, og anbefale ikke at gentage parringen/ kombinationen .....

Det er den 2. mest almindelige hjerte fejl i hunde, og også "normal" med menneskelige babyer .... Jeg har læst mig til at 7/1000 hvalpe vil få denne diagose.. Det kan dog også have en sammenhæng med ”for tidligt fødte” og underudviklet hjerte muskulatur…

"The most common congenital heart disease of the dog is a patent ductus arteriosus, or a PDA. In dogs, the condition is relatively common and some breeds are more likely to be affected than others."

"In humans, PDA is common in premature infants with hypoxia associated with respiratory distress syndrome or immature DA structure and responsiveness"

Heldigvis har vi stadig en glad hvalp, og vi håber at kunne lave en operation på hende, så snart dyrlægerne siger god for det ...

For nu er det "bare" at håbe hun vil klare det indtil operation, og at de ikke finder noget nyt/mere ved en kontrol scanning. Der er stor succes rate ved operation, så vi håber…!

Vi talte med specialisten som scannede hende d. 21. januar, og han sagde, at han gerne vil scanne hende igen om 16 uger, så hun er ældre og større, og giver bedre billeder for at være mere sikker på det er det eneste, og hvis det er, sagde han at det kan afhjælpes, og hun vil have en normalt liv, hvis operationen går godt .... Og vi behøvede ikke megen tid til at tænke, hvis hun er clearet skal hun opereres !!!! (så nu jeg begynder at finde penge;)) tilsyneladende det er ikke billigt ..

Jeg har brugt mange timer på at læse internettet tyndt, og søgt efter specialister i Danmark, da jeg gerne vil undersøge mine muligheder, og måske få en "second opinion".

Heldigvis har jeg en fantastisk veninde, som kunne sætte mig i direkte kontakt med en kirurg på KU-life, og jeg fik en tid onsdag d. 27. januar, til en second opinion og ny scanning, og vi skal snakke om mulighederne….

I mellem tiden forsøgte vi at behandle Wauw som en normal hvalp, og socialisere som var hun helt rask og havde en lys fremtid foran sig !

Onsdag d. 27. janaur viste det sig at være godt jeg stolede på min mave fornemmelse !

Jeanett var sød at tage med mig, så jeg ikke skulle stå alene med det..... Vi startede med en lille undersøgelse, og nogle spørgsmål af kirurgen, og efterfølgende en scanning. Hun blev scannet af 2 forskellige, blandt andet Jørgen Kock, som betragtes at være den bedste i Danmark.
Endnu en gang opførte Wauw sig meget eksemplarisk, og fik meget ros af alle dyrlægerne! Diagnosen blev bekræftet, og nu ledte de efter andre mulige defekter i hjertet, og hvor omfattende det var.
Selv for det utrænede øje var det tydeligt at se at Wauws hjerte pumpede på overarbejde, og at det allerede var vokset.

Dyrlægernes udmelding: var vi ventet til 16 uger var det katastrofalt ! 

Wauw blev clearet for andre hjerte defekter !

Men hun har brug for en operation hurtigst muligt! Wauw skulle opereres ugen efter.

Det vil sige, i morgen onsdag d. 3. februar 2016...

Her vil hun møde hendes skæbne.....

Jeg håber alle vil krydse jeres fingre for vores smukke fantastiske lille hundehvalp i morgen!!

Her kommer nogle spørgsmål og nogle svar; som er sendt til den udenlandske hvalpekøber: (på engelsk)

1. with PDA there are lots of symptoms like coughing, tiredness, sleeping more, quieter/weaker, stunted growth. The only symptom Wow has is the different heartbeat - so does this mean the PDA is not as bad in her case as it is in some other dogs, eg the hole is smaller rather than bigger?

No the whole is quite big frown-humørikon And she need surgery quick.... The heart has already grown, because it has compensating by growing, thats why she hasn't shown other signs, but they were suprised over that...
Normally when there come a pressure over 1,5 in the heart they need treatment (surgery in case of PDA), and hers is right under 1,5-1,5 now, so thats why we need quick treatment... And why it would have been traumatic if we had waited until 16 weeks!!

2. How will we know the operation is a success? Will her heartbeat become a 'normal' heartbeat, rather than a fast one?

She will be operated wednesday, don't know what time yet, he will call before and after.. and they will keep her to next day, when they will do a scann to see if the blood flow stopped.... already then the heart rate should seem normal, and maybe the heart already started to shrink back to normal..
The succes is that she survives and the whole is closed.

3. Which type of surgery do they perform?

They can only make "open chest", because for the other one they need to be min. 3 kg, and she is 2. kh now, and we can't wait, because she can be very old before this..
It is a big risk doing this kind og surgery.... also of cause its in the heart.. But the risk is that they have to loosen the "artery" (that should be closed of) from the other tissue around the heart and the heart it selves, and then it depends on the tissue and thickness or the walls in the artery who should loosen and closed of.... The risk is if something brakes, and it starts bleeding... both that she can bleed to death, but if it starts bleeding, because its to "soft", he can't continue, and has to close up... Then they maybe can try a new operation another day, but it is a totally "new" operation, with also new expensive... (double payment).....
So for now we have to pray she survives the operation......
He has made about 35 operations, and have never lost a dog, but close 3 times, because of loosing blood..
Therefor he asked what I was willing to pay, I asked what he meant.. Because if she needs blood, they have to take a blood sample to test what blood she need, he asked if I wanted this before operation, so they didn't need to wait for that in the operation if needed, I said yes of cause I want blood ready if she needs it, and then he asked f they should give he all blood she needed, and I said yes again, but that cost 5.000 danish crones also.... BUT as I said to them, I don't want to pay a lot of money for an operation, so she can died from blood loss after......

Here is also some good news.... He thinks depends on surgery, and if everything is good, she will have a check up scann about 2-3 weeks after operation, and depends on that one, if all is normal, then she should have another scann after 6 months... Then I think he could see me counting in my head, because I then thought "ohh my, she is 10 weeks next week, and if she can earliest go 6 month from that???"... But if she should move away, this is not impossible to do "quick" after surgery.....

5. After the operation, what would the planned next steps be? Would she need cage rest, and for how long? Would she be able to be carried places, so she can still see the world?

He has a technique were he doesen't need to cut of muscles, but he is opening all under one of the front legs, but if it needs to cut muscles, she kan limp a few days after surgery... And should be keept calm to about 8 days after surgery, but not necessarily cage rest! (Poke will move saturday), so after that it will be easy to keep calm, i think the first days they will have a problem by hearing each other, but can't play... And then after the 8 days, she should be normal puppy!

7. What are the advantages/disadvantages of doing the operation at 16 weeks instead of 10 or 12 weeks? Does the operation have greater chance of success at 16 weeks? Are any further side effects of PDA likely to start showing before she has the operation?

She needs the operation next week, because there is so much extra pressure on the heart, that it can be to much, if she don't get it, she will probably not get that old..... frown-humørikon They say it had't looked good by 16 weeks, if she didn't already has sleeping in.... so... VERY happy I trusted my stomach!!!

8. What is the likelihood after the operation, for an active life? How long before she is fully recovered and can be a 'normal' puppy?

No matter how I put the questions, he said to me everytime, "because you ask so directly, I don't dare to answer"... He didn't want to promise anything, or say anything.. Bacause all is "guesses". he can say what "should" happen, but he can't promise that it will be like this... She should be "healthy" after surgery, heart should get back to normal size, she should be all able to run agility and be normal dog after...
Depends on how much he can stretch the tissue to close the whole, there can still be a small whole letting a little blood come through, but this should never be a problem, not either for her life as an active dog....

9. Would the operation fix her 'for life' or is she likely to need medication for her heart as she gets older?

The surgeon couln't answer this for sure, but he thinks that if she had needed any medicine, the cardiologists had given her some already now until surgery.... So he didn't either expect her to get any after... If she needs any, it would only be for a periode.... And it should not give her shorter life either....

I also talked with the cardiologists about genetic, and they all said NO, and if it was, there would be more cases in close lines!
I have read a study about this disease in poodles, and they found a chance of gentic with PDA when the artery who isn't closed by it self was underunderdeveloped and smaller than with normal dogs. But this is not the case with Wauw, the cardiologists said that it was a "normal" case, and all was "normal" just not closed....

To inform you Dee was mated to a sweedish female last year, the female had a brother with PDA who was put to sleep, and she had 3 healthy puppies with Dee...
Siblings to Wauw will also get a scann, just to be sure, and even though the 

cardiologists said it was waste of money, I will also make a scann of Movie, just to be sure and to "justify" the litter.....