Roxanne saw the cardiologist yesterday just because that's what we do. Glad we did. She shows signs of changes in the left vent. No signs of heart disease but those changes often become HCM. The cardio said it could go either way. But no stress or too hot or too cold or too humid environments. And no steroid medications. And she will need annual cardio visits. We found with Cooper that heart disease can suddenly emerge from one year to the next-one year he was fine; the next he was not.
She gets car sick, though, and vomited and had diarrhea in the crate on the way there. But while there, she was very calm. She sat quietly for the exam; her heart beat was steady, not racing due to being in a new place.
No meds are recommended at this time since the heart rate is steady and there are no other signs of actual heart disease. The walls of the heart are not seriously thickened; there's no congestion; etc. She described the walls to be as appearing to be uneven.
So, we will keep an eye on her.
Here are the vet's notes:
"There was no evidence of serious cardiac disease during today's echocardiogram. The only questionable abnormality that was found is that the wall of Roxanne's left ventricle are slightly thickened. This may be completely normal for Roxanne or it could be an early indicator of hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM). There is no need for any type of treatment at this time. She is not considered to be at risk for congestive heart failure or blood clot formation. I advise rechecking her echocardiogram in 1 year. If progressive changes in the heart are seen at that time, Roxanne will be diagnosed with HCM and we will consider beginning cardiac medications. If there is no change in her echocardiogram, we will consider these measurements to be normal for Roxanne."
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