[Mom2Cavs]

Sorry, it has taken so long to post an update on Rupert. Bear with me, as this may be kinda long. When I took Ru (as I like to call him, lol) to the vet for his pre surgery blood work for his dental and neuter (and to get a rabies vacc.) the blood work came back that everything seemed fine except his white count, which indicated some kind of infection. Also, as a side note….my breeder friend had taken him to a health clinic to have his eyes and heart checked out, by a cardiologist. They told her that his eyes were good but he did have a grade 1/2 murmur (out of 6). He was heart clear a year ago, at least that is what she was told. So….when both my vets examined him (separately) they said his murmur was not a 1/2 but definitely more in the 5 range! They thought maybe the infection was from his teeth and perhaps had settled into his heart! They put him on an antibiotic. 🙁 My vet didn’t feel comfortable putting him under anesthesia until he saw a cardiologist. So we made an appt. to see a very good one locally. Now….in the meantime, pretty much overnight because Ru had been professionally groomed and I had brushed him, too, and no one noticed anything amiss….he had an abscessed anal gland! I took him back to the vet and she tried to get it to express. She had some trouble and told me we were gonna switch his antibiotic to a different one and that now she thinks this was the reason for the infection. I took him home and began hot compresses and such. A few days later it did burst!! Yuck!! I called the vet and she told me to monitor it and told me what to do and what to look out for. It seemed to be doing fine. About a week later on a Friday (with his cardiologist appt. on the following Mon.) I took him back to my vet just to be checked over. The gland is healing okay, so far. He had his cardiology appt. and it was determined that he does have a grade 5/6 murmur. He also has MVD (Mitral Valve Disease) which is the number one killer of Cavaliers. 🙁 He has been put on enalapril (twice a day) for his blood pressure. One good thing is that so far he is asymptomatic. This coming Tues. he will see my vet again to check to see if the enalapril is doing its job. If so, he can be scheduled for his dental and neuter (and possibly anal gland removal?). Of course, the vet will use a certain anesthesia for such cases and I will be a nervous wreck!!! My breeder friend did say she would take him back, but we will not be doing that as we love him very much already. He is now a part of our family.

Well….that is Ru’s saga so far. I will give you updates when I have them. Currently, he is a joy and acts like any normal Cavalier! 🙂

• This reply was modified 10 years, 8 months ago by Mom2Cavs.