He has something called DCM. He went in on Friday and got an echocardiogram, x-rays, and blood work. The blood work is normal and healthy. The x-ray shows his heart is enlarged and misshapen, but not "grossly" so. The echo showed the DCM.
DCM is "dilated cardiomyopathy" and there is a good article on it at http://www.veterinarypartner.com/ if you put that in the search window.
Odin is getting two prescriptions: one for "cervac", a human drug to reduce his blood pressure; and Enalapril Maleate, which thins his blood.
He is also going to get Coenzyme Q10, fish oil, and glucosamine daily. Right now he is getting Platinum instead of Missing Link, but I might switch them up to keep Odin on his toes.
Both Odin and Stampy are loving it so far because to feed him his pills, I have been getting him a $1 double cheeseburger at McDonald's (and thus, Stampy gets one too) and putting the pills inside. But starting tomorrow I am going to hide the pills in squishy dog food.
The vet said that he is a healthy weight, does not need diet changes, and shouldn't have his exercise restricted. There's a chance that he'll have a heart attack while he's running and playing, but the vet thinks it's the best way to go. I agree, but I still don't want it to happen.
The side effects I'll be watching for are Odin acting loopy, tired, taking a longer time to recover, breathing fast or other abnormal changes in his breathing, coughing - especially soft and at night, or turning blue.
He doesn't have any fluid in his lungs yet, but he will be getting echos, x-rays, and blood work every 6 months.
I don't think I'm going to be able to prepare myself for what it will feel like to lose Odin. He is my tail.
In other news, earlier in the week, he stepped in poop in the yard (the day after I did poo patrol), and I tried to clean his foot, couldn't stop feeling gross about it, so I made him wear a sock around the house, with vetwrap on the top to hold it up.
Stampy ate my mango today. He has been a bad dog the past week. He also blasted past the dog crate (blocking the bedrooms, office, and bathroom from the rest of the house, which he is free to roam in) earlier in the week and chewed on my crocs and pajamas.
The cats are all enjoying going out into the garage and hanging out in there for a few hours. Poppy has gotten especially pushy about trying to get out the door into the outside. Kappa and Peony seem to be content to be inside. Kappa likes to sit in my "to shred" box and watch me when I'm on the computer. I'll attach a picture.
Oh yeah, and Odin recovered from Stampy's attempts to overthrow the King.
Picture also attached from that (a gross one).
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