Duck, Duck, Moose

Today is May 1st, 2024 and it’s National Purebred Dog Day, but more importantly, we have some great news to share!

Recently on a routine vet visit with Maggie our primary care vet expressed concern that he thought he heard a slight heart murmur, Maggie was fighting an ear infection so we decided to leave it, treat the infection, and then recheck after a few weeks.

Upon rechecking with the same doc he once again thought he heard the murmur, albeit faint, he suggested we take steps to spay her. I was not at all satisfied with this as our plan has been to try for one last litter with Maggie and Marty, but now Doc was not recommending it based on his findings.

At this point in our planning, we had already made and pre-paid for an Optimoligy appointment for Maggie’s annual OFAs. We were a little unsure which way to go so I called the eye doctor to explain our situation. Our Optimoligist encouraged us to proceed with the exam and told us she and another doctor would have a listen, this was amazing so we did just that, and to our surprise neither of them heard a heart murmur! 

This was certainly encouraging news, and yes she passed her eye exam, but I figured I now had two opinions even though technically three different vets had listened to her heart. Not crazy about the 50/50 odds I wanted one more check to break the tie, so instead of seeing another general practitioner I made an appointment with a cardiologist to have another OFA exam done starting with Ascultation with the possibility of an echo if needed.

So finally our cardiology appointment was this morning and we are extremely happy to report that after a very thorough exam, there was no murmur, and that our litter plans could proceed! We’re very excited!

It’s a bit too early to start setting up the whelping area, Maggie is not even in season yet after all, but we’re making preparations and getting in shape like Rocky Balboa and we do have a name, we’re calling this litter Duck, Duck, Moose. Wish us luck!