Our little boy Spatas was born on the 16th of January, 2008 in Vilnius, Lithuania. And his Mommy is a banking consultant and was travelling for assignments before settling down in Denmark, Spatas has had his share of travel and relocation. He enjoys seeing in new places and is extremely easy to travel with, he’s a natural born globetrotter!

For the past 4 years he has lived in Copenhagen, Denmark and calls it his home, though he gets to travel quite a bit to visit his both sets of grandparents that dote on him and spoil him rotten. He has two big human siblings, a 10 year old brother and a 16 year old sister, and enjoys being the only pup in the family, as he loves being spoiled and hates sharing attention and especially food!

Spatas has always been a very healthy boy and as he is inherently a slow and relaxed guy, he has never suffered any major injuries. In 2016 after an episode of pain in his hips he got diagnosed with hip dysplasia, but after a round of anti-inflammatory medication he got better and it has not bothered him since. We know it is a congenital defect and it has not disappeared, so we do our best to keep his little hips warm and avoid swimming in cold water, which, living on an island is sometimes hard to avoid.

On the 4th of May, 2019 Spatas woke up struggling to breathe. He was sitting in our bed and breathing really rapidly, though the weather was cool and he was certainly not overheating. We got really worried, as Spatas is not a morning person, and until we call him for walkies he usually rolls in bed or naps on the sofa, yet there he was, wide awake and struggling to breathe. The day before we had taken him to his “happy place” which is an old military fortress in a shape of a pentagon called Kastellet in Copenhagen. It’s around an hour’s walk and he enjoys it immensely, but in hindsight the exercise might have caused one of his chords to rupture.

As it was a Saturday and we had never had any pet related emergencies, we panicked that our family vet may not be open yet, so we called the only 24/7 pet hospital we found online, which was a 15 mins drive away. While getting there Spatas was sitting on my lap and I could feel he was struggling to breathe and his heart was beating super fast and I already suspected it was heart related. The moment we walked in the hospital’s door, a nurse came and took one look at his gums and scooped him up and ran away. We were left standing knowing that something very bad has happened to our baby boy. We stood in the corridor waiting for someone to come out and tell us what was going on and I was hoping and praying it was something treatable, like pneumonia or infection, but deep in my heart I knew it was his heart.

Spatas spent 36 hours in intensive care as it was weekend and they could only release him on Monday after a full checkup by cardiologists. He was diagnosed with MVD on Monday, the 6th of May, 2019. The doctor prescribed Cardisure (pimobendan), furosemide and Cardalis (Benazepril hydrochlorid/spironolactone) and gave him 6 to 12 months to live. To say we were devastated would be an understatement. This disease hit us completely unexpectedly and we just couldn’t believe that medication is the only thing they can offer us and that we’re running out of time with our sweet and lively baby. That’s when we started searching online for treatment options for MVD and stumbled upon the Mighty Hearts Project page on Facebook and learned about surgery options. The very afternoon we emailed our cardiologist and told him we want to pursue the option of having Spatas operated on and asked him to contact RVC. We got a date for surgery (19th November, which was later changed to 21st of October) on the 25th of May, so there were only 19 days between the devastating diagnosis and receiving a surgery date and finding hope. 

Two weeks before the surgery Spatas had whole body scan and required blood tests. They found that he had some elevated tests numbers (45 while the norm is up to 25) CRP marker (C-reactive protein) and our cardiologists were not sure RVC would still accept him for surgery. We were super stressed as we had no idea what was causing the inflammation as our baby looked happy and healthy and had no diseases or injuries that could explain it. Thankfully, when we repeated the test in 10 days the marker was back to normal and we got the green light to come to RVC for surgery.

We arrived to Harpenden on the 16th October, Spatas met Dr. Dan Brockman and the crew during his pre-op exam on the 17th and we delivered him for his surgery in the early morning of Monday, the 21st of October. Both our cardiologists Jakob and Anders flew in from Copenhagen to observe Spatas’ surgery as our little boy was (and still is) the only Danish patient to ever get this surgery. It was really nice to have them there and know that in case Dan or others are missing any information about Spatas or his condition, our wonderful doctors that diagnosed him will be there to provide it.

Spatas surgery went without complications and he recovered very smoothly. The only hiccup in his recovery was a mild case of diarrhea that resolved itself within a few days. We went home on the 1st of November, Spatas was taken off pimobendan at discharge, as his heart had returned to its normal size. We had our 1 month post-op checkup two weeks ago, which confirmed Spatas has a grade 2 murmur, which is normal and expected, and is otherwise healthy. The only problem we currently have is a mild separation anxiety that Spatas started displaying after we returned from London. After a consultation with a dog behaviorist we have adjusted our daily routine a little and provide him with more mental stimulation and structure and he has started showing improvement.

We couldn’t be happier with the outcome and will be forever grateful to Nate and the Mighty Hearts family for their guidance and support. We’re sure that without Mighty Hearts we would not be where we are today.

 Best regards,

Egle & Spatas Holm’s

Breed: Longhaired Dachshund & Beagle mix Age: 11 Diagnosis: Stage C Surgery Date: October 21, 2019 Hometown: Copenhagen, Denmark Owner: Egle Holm Primary Vet: Østerbro Dyreklinik, Copenhagen, Denmark Cardiologist: Dr. Jakob Willesen & Anders Simon Schrøder, Frederiksberg Small Animal Hospital, Copenhagen, Denmark Surgical Team: RVC, Drs. Dan Brockman & Poppy Bristow