Rocky Mountain Great Dane Rescue, Inc.

Duchess is a very sweet 7 year old Dane who was originally found as a stray in Lawton, Oklahoma. When her time was up at the shelter, RMGDRI swept in to save her just in the nick of time!

December 1, 2008

Duchess was transported from Lawton to Oklahoma City today and taken to Warwick Animal Hospital for a complete exam. She received Rabies, Distemper/Parvo combo, and Bordetella vaccinations. She had a fecal and was treated for hookworms. She tested heartworm negative. They reported that her back sloped somewhat and wondered if she may have had a previous surgery due to a scar on her back where they removed a stainless suture from the area. Duchess was put on Doxycycline for a slight cough. She also has a soft tissue mass on her tail that needs to be looked at and she needs a dental.

December 5, 2008

Duchess is now in Colorado at her foster home and doing well. We took her to Belcaro today for her dental, mass removal, and x-rays. They sent off a sample of the mass to pathology and, luckily, the results came back as a benign tumor. The x-rays of her hips were normal and showed no signs of displaysia. Unfortunately, however, she was diagnosed with Spondylosis in her back. She will need to remain on an anti-inflammatory and pain medication as well as a joint supplement for the rest of her life to keep her comfortable.

January 14, 2008

Duchess went to see Dr. Loyer, a Cardiologist at VRCC, today as a followup to determine what is going on with her heart. During our visit, it was noted that she has been drinking rather excessively and he reviewed the radiographs taken previously, which were both consistent with Dilated Cardiomyopathy. On a good note, she is showing no signs of congestive heart failure!

Dr. Loyer put Duchess on the table for an ECG and the echocardiography revealed a severely dilated left ventricle with diffuse hypokinesis present. There was only mild right ventricular enlargement and a normal left atrium present. The color doppler showed trivial mitral regurgitation and there was no tricuspid regurgitation found by color flow doppler.

Dilated Cardiomyopathy (DCM) continues to carry a very guarded prognosis, in spite of advances in cardiology. This is the most common cause for heart transplantation in humans, not an option for animla\\als. While we are better at achieving better quality of life, life spans for dogs with DCM are generally less than a year. Some rare animals may live for three years. Several signs of poorer prognosis are right heart failure, cachexia, and low sodium levels. Duchess has the better prognosis of having a normal sized left atrium.

The plan moving forward is Benazapril (20 mg) and Pimodendan (10 mg). He wants us to start her on the Pimobendan even though she has no congestive heart failure and no left atrial enlargement, because he feels it will improve cardiac output and help her compensate for her spinal disease. We will recheck radiographs and ECG every four months and recheck her echo in six months.

January 30, 2008

The board has decided to make Duchess the newest permanent member of our foster program due to her deteriorating condition. As you have probably read on her special story page, Duchess is currently suffering from severe Spondylosis as well as a very serious heart condition which both affect her quality and longevity of life. She is already an old lady and we are struggling to keep her comfortable and happy and fear she may not have long left. We don't want to put an adopting family through the heartache of losing their new addition so quickly nor do we want to put Duchess through the stress of having to move to a new environment at this stage. We are very grateful to Bree and Brian for their willingness to open their heart and home to this sweet old lady permanently! As you can see in the note below, Duchess is quite happy about our decision also!

Dear Board Members

Thank you for letting me stay with Bree and Brian! I was confused why my mommy kept telling me last " You are home for good!", because I already knew this was my home- apparently it takes you humans a bit longer than us Danes.

I got a new id tag last night- I always hated the one that put me in the general population of "Foster Dog". My new collar says " Dutchie Dew", which is what mommy always calls me. The only real issue I have is that mommy told me she was getting a pink heart shaped collar to match my collar, and came one with a stupid blue bone like Deacon's- I overheard her telling Daddy that her ADD set in while at Petsmart and she hit the wrong button.

Anyway, we all feel much better now that my future is decided, and I just wanted to send my thanks to the board for the wonderful work you do.

Here is an official picture of my new family.

Love,

Dutchie Dew

March 7, 2008

As everyone is aware, we decided to make Duchess a permanent foster due to her heart and spinal problems. Unfortunately, none of us were prepared for just how little time we would have with her. Duchess' health started to rapidly decline over the past couple of weeks. She completely stopped eating, became very lethargic, and the spark in her eye was fading fast. Her breathing became very labored and it was clear to us all that her heart was starting to fail. Her spondylosis is very severe which causes her to fall frequently as well.

After consulting with Dr. Winton, we all decided that sweet Duchess' body was giving out on her and she was losing all quality of life. Just laying on the couch required great effort for her to breath and when we took her resting heart rate it was well above 200 with absolutely no pulse. Dr. Winton confirmed that she was experiencing congestive heart failure and the best thing we could do for her was to let her go peacefully. Duchess was surrounded by Bree, Brian, Dr. Winton, and myself and we all hugged her and made sure she knew how much we all loved her as she crossed over the rainbow bridge!

I want to specially thank Bree and Brian for opening up their heart and home to this sweet (yet scrappy) old lady and letting her be a part of your family and experience love!!! She will always hold a special place in my heart.