[I snapped this after we had a good cry together. I was so worried about him and he knew it. Can’t you just see it in his eyes?]
I wanted to give those of you, who are kind enough to care, an update on Rusty. We hooked him up to a holter monitor, which is a 24 hour monitoring of his heart (basically a 24 hour EKG). We were looking for PVC (premature ventricular contractions) that were the evidence of an arrhythmia. As a breed, normal boxers usually have about 50 per day. Those with severe boxer cardiomyopathy have PVCs in the thousands and tens of thousands per day. Thankfully, Rusty only threw 32 during the time he was monitored, putting him in the normal range. [for those of you with medical minds who read this…all were singlets and in rhythm, which is super encouraging] When you have more than one of these extra contractions in a row is where you really run into trouble. So…for now our directive is to treat our little boy as normal. There are a few studies that have been conducted using fish oil and with some pretty decent results that show the number of PVCs are reduced with high enough supplementation in the daily diet. So Rusty drools for his two capsules each night and chews them like candy. He is back to doggie daycare and has no idea anything was ever wrong!
[Rusty wired like a suicide bomber. Poor little guy!!! This was off his daddy’s cell phone camera, so excuse the quality! He tolerated the vest without the cone, thank goodness!]
