A Penn Vet care team collaborates to treat a dog with a strong will but a sick heart
A team of experts at Penn’s School of Veterinary Medicine stabilized and diagnosed a tricky disease through teamwork and quick action.
2 min. read
Something about Little Dove just wasn’t quite right. Her owner, Elizabeth Mauldin, a dermatopathologist at Penn’s School of Veterinary Medicine (Penn Vet) noticed Little Dove was severely sluggish. Mauldin brought her to Penn Vet’s Matthew J. Ryan Veterinary Hospital, where her blood tests showed some nagging liver and kidney readings. Mauldin asked her colleague and friend Mary Beth Callan, a senior Penn Vet internist, to take a look.
Elizabeth Mauldin, a dermapathologist at Penn Vet, has owned Little Dove since she was a pup.
(Image: Courtesy of Penn Vet News)
“I saw the dog on the office floor looking quite flat, so I felt the legs,” Callan says. “They were cold.” As Callan examined Little Dove, she saw more cause for concern, although still no obvious cause.
Using two separate thermometers to double-check Little Dove’s temperature, she found it below normal. “Her heart rate was 160 which is really high for a dog. Normal is around 80 to 120 depending on the dog, and we were unable to get a blood pressure on her,” Mauldin says.
Elizabeth Snyder, a third-year internal medicine resident, secured an electrocardiogram machine to Little Dove’s heart, and found the dog was in ventricular tachycardia—a very dangerous and very fast heart rhythm. Her heart rate had climbed to over 300.
The first step in treatment was a dose of lidocaine to bring her heart rate down. During her overnight stay at Ryan, she had another tachycardia episode. The next day, she was able to return home. A week later, she began exhibiting some of the same symptoms, so Mauldin brought her into the emergency room and was stabilized.
Little Dove was diagnosed with myocarditis, inflammation of the heart muscle. Her heart had been damaged in some way, but the underlying cause—while not confirmed—could possibly be a vector-borne ailment, according to Mauldin. The dog is being monitored and treated with several medications.
Little Dove, meanwhile, has her appetite back, which is always a good sign. She’s not back to doing zoomies, and she is sleeping more than she used to, Mauldin says. But she’s enjoying her walks, her dog friends, and her people.
This story is by Rita Giordano. Read more at Penn Vet News.
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