In late October of 2017 I brought Chloe for her yearly checkup and they detected a slight heart murmur, they said it was about a grade 2 and that it wasn’t a huge concern at that time and would keep an eye on it every 6 months.
Shortly after her checkup and vaccinations Chloe started coughing, they treated her for possible kennel cough. A few weeks later I noticed extreme labored breathing, rates in the 60s and took her straight to the animal hospital where they said everything checked out normal. After about 2 weeks I noticed she was coughing but it was a different cough then before, this is when she fainted. I rushed her to the vet and this is when they told me Chloe had severe heart disease and was in heart failure. I was told she had a grade 5 heart murmur.
We went from finding out Chloe had a slight heart murmur with no symptoms to a grade 5 murmur, MVD and in Heart Failure within a month. It is terrifying how fast this disease can progress. It was gut wrenching finding out that she only had 12-16 months to live.
I immediately started looking things up and found the Mighty Hearts website and Facebook group. It gave me hope that this wasn’t it for Chloe. It was a very stressful and emotional time leading up to surgery, hoping that she would make it to surgery. I will never forget this entire process, all the people I connected with and my experience in Japan. Chloe is doing amazing. She went from a Grade 5 heart murmur to no detectable heart murmur.
Her Regurgitation went from Severe to Very mild and her heart has returned to a normal size. She went from taking 3 medications every 12 hours to no medication. I will be forever grateful for Mighty Hearts and Dr. Uechi, Sayaka and the entire Japanese Team.
Breed: Yorkshire Terrier
Age: 10 years old
Diagnosis: Stage C
Surgery Date: August 14th, 2018
Hometown: Albany, NY
Owner: Whitney and Chris Sober
Cardiologist: Upstate Veterinary Specialties , Dr. Cassidy D. Sedacca
Surgical Team: Dr. Masami Uechi, Jasmine Cardiovascular Medical Center
