Nice Guy Nevio of Cadillac - LCD (Nevio *16.12.2011 †17.03.2016, tvd)
17 March 2017
„Nevio...
One year has passed since you made your journey across the rainbow bridge.
One year, after that we still not yet understand, why life has chosen this hard way for you.
‚Tricuspid valve dysplasia’...
The diagnosis – a shock – completely changed the life of you and Silvia.
Your shared time had only just begun...
But this is exactely why she never gave up on you!
Silvia loved you, exactely the way you were.
And she has done everything to enable you a happy and joyful life.
Even you only were given 4 years, it were 4 years spent together full of love and fun.
For Silvia you were ‚her little boy’... You are ‚her little boy’! And you will always be.
I know, she misses you every single day.
And I am sure, that one day you will meet again.
Until then we will continue to raise awareness of tricuspid valve dysplasia
and other heart diseases in Labrador Retriever.
We will continue fighting for other dogs being spared by this heavy fate.
Nevio... Our brown bear...
We will never forget you! You are missed so much!
Nice Guy Nevio of Cadillac
16.12.2011 – 17.03.2016“
07 April 2016
Since our last appointment at Dr. Kirsch in autumn 2015, where he already noticed that Nevios blood pressure is very low, Nevios condition went downhill. He slept a lot, had trouble tolerating the medicine, was jumpy and restless commonly... more and more my happy, bright and highly interested dog got lost. This last January he suddenly refuses to eat, could barely walk and vomited. We immediately drove to the veterinary clinic in Regensburg, where Dr. Rieker pretty fast confirms the diagnosis: Addison's disease, breakdown of adrenal cortex. For several days we didn't know whether he would survive this crisis. So many problems came together: In addition to his tricuspid valve dysplasia and the aortic stenosis he came down with spondylosis, arthrosis at the front right and the retrusive occlusion Runds off the picture. Well, since January a gastric ulcer and the Addison's disease came along. Only after 10 days Nevio came back home. Our new daily routine looks like:
- alarm clock rings at 06:00 just to give the stomach medications
- at 07:00: feeding and providing medicine for Addison's disease, painkillers for spondylosis and athrosis (Florinef, Prednisolon, PhenPred)
- at 08:00: heart medicine (only Vetmedin was given at that time, Fortecor and HCT have been deducted)
- staying up at night for several times because of diarrhoea and/or dewatering was quiet normal for me by now
For a short time we hoped for a recovery. Nevio could walk better again, he had vitality and eats enthusiastically. Once a week we drove to the specialists in Ravensburg, which were in close contact to Dr. Kirsch, to do heart ultrasound and blood test. Everybody there kept one's fingers crossed for that it will turn out all right. Unfortunately Nevio lost this hard fight and we had to let him go to his last journey on 17th March 2016.
Nevio quiet and pieceful fell asleep. We will never forget him, this brave fighter, that was born without a chance on a long life.
(Silvia Baumann, Besitzerin von Nevio)
29 October 2015
Nevio went yesterday for routine checking to Dr. Kirsch: The only good news is that the anyway very bad heart of his has not significantly deteriorated. Besides: blood pressure is bad, kidney function poorly, spleen enlarged, stomach and intestines strong gased. And as if that's not enough, Dr. Kirsch has found by passing by a spondylosis of the spine. Melanie Eisele, who enjoys our trust in things of physiotherapy for dogs, will take it over.
(Silvia Baumann, owner of Nevio)
09 February 2015
We had some general issues with Nevios health since the last examination with Dr. Kirsh. Nevio does not bear the medication very well. He used to get vomiting and diarrhea. Since Nevio was always a very bad eater, but we rely on him eating some stuff due to the medication, we now cook for him. He usually gets chicken breast, rice, some carrots and kohlrabi. When he eats, sometimes just after a view hours he starts to vomit and gets diarrhea. Especially industrially produced goodies disrupts his digestion, which made us even more cautious with the food we give to him.
We realized that the examination with Dr. Kirsch is more and more stressful for Nevio. In the past he was very happy to visit the nice doctor and his assistances in, now he makes the impression that he just wants to leave. I am glad that I have support, so there are three of us holding Nevio while the doctor is working.
The examination showed an age-typical decline of health. Dr. Kirsch did not find a worsening condition in the right half of the heart, but he worried about the increase of the left side of the heart. Further, he found a strong increase of the heartbeat. This is because the heart has to work even harder to do its regular job. On the long run, Nevios condition will just worsen.
His blood is ok so far, besides the urate scores, which are higher than they should be. We will check this again in 4 weeks, to see whether this might be the start of an affected kidney. We expect such a thing to happen soon.
Dr. Kirsch adjusted the medication. Now, Nevio takes:
- Fortekor 10mg, once a day (to reduce blood pressure, improve clinical symptoms)
- HCT 75mg, twice a day (to avoid the water aggregation in the body, to de-water the right side of the heart)
- Vetmedin 10mg, twice a day (to increase the power of contraction of the heart)
Thanks to the cold weather conditions Nevio can play and run outside just like a normal dog. He improved in knowing then to stop playing to take a rest. Such pauses are usually short, so we can have long strolls which might improve his condition for the following summer.
The visits at Dr. Kirschs office are always very disillusioning to me. Although I appreciate his professional and in-depth analysis, his prognoses and the experiences he talks about are very hard to digest and it hurts very much to talk about all this with him.
(Silvia Baumann, owner of Nevio)
20 June 2014
The thoroughly six-month examination (ECG, cardiac ultrasound) with Dr. Kirsch in Pforzheim revealed that Nevios condition continued to be stable on a bad level. We didn’t expect anything bigger that is why these results made us pretty happy.
Nevio is in a way better place than last year, which we trace back to the fact that we switched his food last august. After resisting for a long time I finally gave in to feed Nevio raw food. The first weeks were complicated and an organizational challenge but in the meantime we actually started to have fun in ordering the meat, mixing the meals and additives together.
Since then Nevio built up enormous muscles, is more alive and seems healthier. All those reasons combined I would never ever feed Nevio industrial food again.
Furthermore Nevio finally, after two years, got into swimming and we support him by going to the lake regularly. He will need a life vest for longer swims so he wouldn’t strain himself and to prevent a disaster.
The medication is still the same.
Nevios kidney values, which always have been in a border area, will be approached by nutrition and homeopathy. If they are getting worse (which can be benefited by the necessary dewatering), the kidney can be damaged.
(Silvia Baumann, owner of Nevio)
26 June 2013
The appointment at the doctor met our wildest dreams: After a couple first days with the new medications – which were not as good – Nev started to respond quiet well to the medications. After a week of intensive research and weighting BARF/dry feed we shifted his food to VetConcept Low Protein since we didn’t want to experiment anymore.
A new appointment and laboratory resulted: the blood values are in norm again and Nevs right ventricle downsized 11mm. For us that is a reason to celebrate even though with a disease like this you can’t talk about an improvement but to see these findings as stagnation of the disease.
At the same time we did the official breeding examination from the Collegium Cardiologium e.V..
Nev is still treated with the diet to better his kidneys and takes his medications that Dr. Kirsch prescribed on May 24th 2013.
(Silvia Baumann, owner of Nevio)
24 May 2013
Today we went to Dr. Kirsch in Pforzheim. Unfortunately Nevios diagnosis got worse. The right ventricle, which was at the last ultrasound 39mm increased now, four months later, for another 11mm and is now 50mm big. Respectively the left heart got pushed back.
The kidney-values increased as well. Water retention wasn‘t apparent. Nevio’s medication got adapted to these results and now he takes Fortekor 10mg, 1x day (high blood pressure medicine, improvement of the clinical symptoms), Vetmedin 10mg, 2x day (increases the force of the contraction of the heart muscle), HCT 25mg, 2x day (dehydration). Also he has to start a diet to better his kidneys. That means his food is going to be low in protein. We can compensate the missing calories through fat.
(Silvia Baumann, owner of Nevio)
May 2013
Nevio was born with his six siblings on December 16th 2011. Two dogs died during birth, two more 'got crushed with love' from mother Bonanza and died too. I got Nevio when he was eight weeks old. He was a very self-confident and vivid dog with whom I had to do many homeworks for as a first time dog-owner. Nevio generously forgave rookie mistakes I made.
Nevio got examined every time he got his vaccination, he seemed healthy and jolly, with seven months he got diagnosed with a inflammation of the outer layer of the bone which let him to stay in the box and on the leash for two months. He grew very fast and was always stronger, a little bit 'spongier' dog with less body tension. However he started very early to critizies his food which is very untypical for a Labrador. When he was eleven months old Nevios stomach got X-rayed because of an upset stomache. This was when the vet called my attention to Nevios enlarged heart.
Immediately we went to Dr. Kirsch in Pforzheim who examined Nevio and did a heart ultrasound on November 28th 2012 which let to the crushing diagnosis: highly tricuspid insufficiency, dysplastic triscuspid, right heart failure, minimal mitral- and pulmonary insufficiency. The test results were okay.
Prediction: carefully. Nevio got medication immediately and since then takes:
- Fortekor 10mg, 1 x day (high blood pressure medicine, improvement of the clinical symptoms)
- HCT 25mg, 2 x day (to avoid accumulation of water in the body and to dehydrate the right atrium)
- Vetmedin 10mg, 2x day (increases the force of the contraction of the heart muscle)
Nevio shows mostly no symptoms. We always thought that the fact that he’s not the fastest runner and pants a lot was because of his enormous size but it’s probably a sign of his ineffiency due to his illness. Spring-like temperatures and quick changes of weather let Nevio get weak and sometimes almost appear a little lethargic. Due to his young age he recovers quickly from it.
Right now Nevio is allowed to enjoy his life and doesn’t get treated with care in particular. However we avoid walking in the full sunlight and watch him carefully with his passion – the retrieval – so he won’t overreach himself.
(Silvia Baumann, owner of Nevio)
