Could I ask...

[FatFutures]

all of you wonderful "fish folk" to spare a few good thoughts and prayers for one of our Great Danes named Ike?

This is Ike:

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3185/2581900602_d00608e5f8.jpg

Roughly 6 weeks ago, we had to take Ike to the ER vet for what was determined to be a HUGE build up of fluid in the sack around his heart. They ended up withdrawing almost one liter of fluid.

Then last Thursday morning, I noticed Ike was off. I threw on some clothes and took him to our vet. Within a few minutes of arriving there, Ike collapsed. The fluid was back. We withdrew 340 ml of fluid and I took him to another facility where they could perform an echocardiogram. They ended up pulling another 1100 ml of fluid! The echo shows that his right heart and one of his valves is enlarged.

We are redoing the echo on Monday and hoping that the enlargements were due to the huge trauma on his heart from all that fluid. THen we have to schedule surgery to cut a whole in the sack around his heart to prevent future fluid build up.

I know this is a fish forum...but, I figured it couldn't hurt to ask. At this point I will take every single good thought and prayer we can get.

Thank you all so much.

[Condor]

Ouch that sounds painful. I hope he feels better soon.

Adrian

[korbi_doc]

My dogs & I wish your Ike a good recovery...my Korbi has recently been thru a long arduous illness & is now completely recovered, & we know how stressful this can be....our thoughts & prayers for Ike...



Dottie

[FatFutures]

Thank you both.

Dottie, in addition to the fluid (pericardial effusion) we are facing the possibility of DCM. The enlarged portions of his heart are very possibly early indicators of DCM. It's a double-whammy for sure.

*sigh*

[korbi_doc]

Thank you both.

Dottie, in addition to the fluid (pericardial effusion) we are facing the possibility of DCM. The enlarged portions of his heart are very possibly early indicators of DCM. It's a double-whammy for sure.

*sigh*

Yes, you are so right! This DCM is a major problem to handle & I've seen lots of this one in larger breeds & also in my own breed, dobermans....just hang in there even with this prognosis, there are meds today that can really help....wishing you the best.....

Dottie

[William Palumbo]

Even as you said that this a fish forum...most of us are animal lovers as well. Usually why we are in the hobby. I too am a HUGE dog lover...I own 3 at the moment. I wish you luck and hope all goes well with your dog...Bill

[LostAcres]

We here at Lost Acres Jack Russells/BMT's are all praying for a good outcome. I love Great Danes, only reason I do not have one is because of their shorter life span. Your dog is gorgeous. I hope all goes well.
All 24 dogpaws pressed here!!

[*Polka dots roc*]

Awww i'm so sorry to hear that, he is such a cutie:). I will definetly pray for Ike tonight. I hope it all works out!

[Kathy Poe]

So very sorry to hear about Ike's illness, I love big dogs we had a St. Bernard who was over 200 lbs and when he stood on his hind legs he was 6'2" we raised him in our Pet Store when we had it and he was the greeter these huge dogs are gentle giants. I have had 2 dogs with heart problems and it is so sad. I hope he will be well soon. We and all the Discus will keep him in our prayers.

Best Regards,
Kathy and Jim
Inland Empire Discus

[pcsb23]

Dogs get so close to us don't they? Ike is such a noble looking chap too!

Wishing Ike, and you all the best.

[Ed13]

Ike and you will def get more than a few thoughts from me and others. Hope everything turns out great! DO give us an update.

[majik]

Oh man im very sorry to hear of the problems youve been having .Grief and worry is the price we pay to love something but we dont stop loving .I hope all turns out ok and i wish you all the best with the road ahead.

[Sandi]

Our thoughts and prayer are with you and Ike, he's a beautiful Dane. I had an English Mastiff that had wobblers. It's not even the money in vet bills, but what it does to your heart. they are your kids.

[FatFutures]

Yes Paul... we call our dogs The Boys. They are family and they mean so very much to us.

Yes, Ike can be quite noble and majestic... then, he has moments like these:

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3132/2596031451_ac36dc8c5c.jpg
That's a piece of paper towel hanging from his lip.

I am SO touched by all the well wishes we have received. Thank you all so much.

[GrillMaster]

Hey FF...I hope Ike pulls thru all this fluid build up an bounces back for ya!

Yes this is a Discus forum, but the members here mean alot to all of us as well as all the trials an tribulations of each one of them!

Wishin Ike all the best. I hope he pulls thru all this with flyin colors!

tc

[BSW]

YOU BET YOU CAN ASK !!!!!
Oh I hate to hear these things !
We recently had to have our cat of 15 years put down for the same reason, it liked to have killed us.
I was a vet tech for 12 years before I started working in my husbands hardwood flooring business,, I have seen MANY people hold on to animals longer than they should. And large dogs, such as Rotties, Danes, Pyrenees, etc... don't have a long life expectancy, It is just sadly the way it is. Please don’t let the dog suffer.
Here’s my brothers Dane, Petey. -
http://i148.photobucket.com/albums/s12/rlwbsw/Petey-1.jpg
He already had to let one Dane (Jumbo) go at 10 years
It is just a really hard thing to do, but WE have to be the responsible one’s, crappy job huh ?
We have Border Collies, one is 12 and one is 14, I think it will probably be the end of my hubby, when that decision has to be made.
My prayers are with you and your dog -
I am SO sorry,
BSW

[2075turner]

I feel so sad to heard of you beautiful Ike.:( He is a georgeous dog.:) I hope that he has a great turn around and pulls through this. I wish you and Ike the best. Take care. Evelyn

[FatFutures]

Again, thank you! Your responses mean a great deal to me.

BSW, Petey is gorgeous and looks like quite the Dane character. And, no worries... at the moment Ike is fine. Looking at him and his behavior, you would never know that anything is wrong with him.

Neither of our boys would ever be allowed to suffer. Be responsible really does SUCK at times. But, we love these guys WAY too much to be selfish enough to keep them alive only for our benefit. We will do everything we can for them, including letting them go when their quality of life becomes too compromised. It won't be easy....

I work in Dane rescue and while the dogs we take in aren't "mine", I think that the experience there will help me when its time to let one of my boys go.

Ahhh...getting all leaky again.

[AmberC]

Oh poor Ike! I hope all is still going well for him and continues to go well!

Amber

[pcsb23]

I'm glad Ike is doing fine at the moment, loved the pic with the paper out of the mouth :D

[Ardan]

My prayers are with you!

Ardan

[FatFutures]

Thank you all so much for the kind words and support.

We will be bringing Ike home today! Yippppeeeeeeeeeeeeee!

Of course, we are FAR from being out of the woods yet. The recovery from this surgery is hard and long. And, we also have to wait for all the biopsies and other testing of the samples they took during surgery. THEN we have to wait to re-do the echo and determine if he has any enlargement of his heart (DCM).

We're just SO happy that he is coming home! Poor Joey, our other Dane, he has been moping around here. Just lays there with his eyes open. He's been so lost since Ike's been gone.

[pcsb23]

Great news, fingers (and toes) crossed :)

[FatFutures]

My thanks again to ALL of you!

Ike is home and doing very well! He is on restricted activity for several weeks and as the days go by, that will be harder to enforce. But, enforce I will!

I won't post the picture (some might find it WAY too gruesome) of his incision. I knew it was going to be large but, I really wasn't prepared for what I saw! The incision is roughly 12 inches long and has 32 staples! My poor, POOR baby! And, they gave him an awful buzz job. Shaved all his hair on that side from the middle of his neck almost to his hip!

We are all so happy to have him home. He's eating and resting well and we can see an overall improvement everyday. Now, if we could just get another echocardiogram to show us that there is NO enlargement of his heart, that there is NO DCM... I will be one seriously happy camper!

Again... my most sincere thanks to all of you!

[Kathy Poe]

So glad to hear he is doing better, our best to all of you for his speedy recovery.

Kathy
IED

[brewmaster15]

Thats awesome News so Far!! I'm glad to hear that both Ike and his owners made it thru the ordeal!!:)

I hope things keep going well for Ike!

-al

[wgtaylor]

We inherited two dogs and three abandoned cats. They recognize all the love you give them. I hope all our combined prayers and your loving care help Ike fully recover. You are doing a remarkably kind thing for your Ike. Best wishes, Bill

[GrillMaster]

Glad Ike is home an doin well! :) :)