Delilah – July, 2014

5/5/13: Please welcome Delilah.  She is a four year old from the Humane Society in Knoxville, TN.  At this time she is not spayed and we are not sure she will be able to be spayed because of her severe heart murmur.  We will know more once Dr Ross exams her.  She may need to see the cardiologist too.  She does have a c-section scar so we know she has had babies.  She has dry eye in her right eye.  She is now up to date on her shots.  She will spend two weeks in quarantine at Riverside Animal Hospital then move to her foster home.

She likes dogs and children but we do not know if she likes cats.

Thank you Diana for picking her up at the Humane Society and to Beth, Erin, Al, Aden and Shannon for helping with her transport!

Update 5/22/13: Delilah saw cardiologist Dr Pogue at GVS today.  She has two problems that are causing her heart murmur.

She has an abnormally formed mitral valve (mitral valve dysplasia).  This has caused the valve to leak somewhat but more importantly it is blocking blood leaving the left ventricle (a severe obstruction).  This is making the left ventricle muscle work harder, become thickened, and can cause it to tire as well as have dangerous abnormal heart rhythms.  Severe obstructions like this will typically reduce the life span of a dog.

She also has a second major defect; an abnormal ridge of tissue that is spanning the right ventricle (double chambered right ventricle).  This is blocking blood leaving the right side of the heart (similar to the mitral dysplasia) and has caused muscle changes already.  However, it is moderate and less severe of the two.

We are starting her on Atenolol today.  It will help her heart not work as hard and hopefully will reduce the risk of dangerous/fatal arrhythmias and provide long term muscle protection.  This will not fix any of her congenital defects, but hopefully will prevent secondary effects long term.

Currently she is at an increased anesthetic risk, and will not be able to be spayed at this time.  We will evaluate again after she has been on Atenolol for two and a half months.

Update 8/1/13: Delilah had her follow up with Dr Pouge today.  He is pleased with her current condition.

Update 8/12/13: Delilah went in for spay surgery today but it turns out she was already spayed. We thought her scar was from a c-section but it was not. Dr Duval did find a small mammary tumor that she removed and will send off to be tested.  Along with a sample from her lymph nodes. She noticed they were a tiny bit swollen and decided it was best to have them tested too just to be on the safe side. And she pulled two rotten teeth that have been giving Delilah a hard time and causing infection in her mouth. She said she great under anesthesia. She will spend the night in ICU and should be able to go back to her foster home tomorrow.

Update 8/12/13: Delilah went in for spay surgery today but it turns out she was already spayed. We thought her scar was from a c-section but it was not. Dr Duval did find a small mammary tumor that she removed and will send off to be tested. Along with a sample from her lymph nodes. She noticed they were a tiny bit swollen and decided it was best to have them tested too just to be on the safe side. All test came back OK.  And she pulled two rotten teeth that have been giving Delilah a hard time and causing infection in her mouth. She said she did great under anesthesia.

Delilah does not  mind other dogs but takes a few weeks to open up to them.  She would prefer to be an only dog so she can have all the human attention!

Update 12/16/13:  Delilah has been adopted!  Congrats Delilah and Blackstone family!

Delilah passed away.  Please keep her family in your thoughts.

SPONSORS:

W & R Lee

J Davis

R & S Rice – In memory of PorkChop

M Patrick

click photos to enlarge

PLEASE NOTE:

We get frequent requests to adopt our dogs PRIOR to spay/neuter.

THIS WILL NEVER HAPPEN WITH GEBR!

Any inquiry regarding adoption of an intact dog will result in PERMANENT elimination from our adoption pool and all other English Bulldog rescues will be notified of your request.