Sick Sinus Syndrome

On June 30, 2019, our little girl to be was found in a rural part of Tennessee where dogs are often dumped. She was found by a friend of Westie Rescue Tennessee and handed over to them. She was in bad shape; matted, filthy, and full of ticks. They just knew she was more than likely heartworm positive and pregnant. Whisked off to the vet for evaluation, she was heartworm negative and already spayed!

The DVM for the rescue group and staff cleaned her up and kept her for the next several days for evaluation while rescue reached out to find a family with Westie experience to foster. We stepped up to “foster to adopt.” We met her for the first time on July 7th and fell in love with her and took her to her forever home to adjust to us and our Westie pack.

Bringing her home, we knew she’d need her own time and space to bond with our three other Westies. On her first full day with us, I noticed she was deaf. She was also having very small seizures and both were a real concern. Off to our vet, we went and they agreed she was deaf and were unsure about the tremors.

Over the next few days, her seizures increased dramatically and our vet thought she had White Shaker Syndrome. Medicine controlled it for about another week or so, then they came back with a vengeance! She was now having over thirty seizures a day. Over the next several weeks we visited specialists in Atlanta where the diagnosis was changed to Sick Sinus Syndrome and we were referred to the University of Georgia Vet School’s Cardiology Dept.

Hettie - WestieMed recipient — Hettie – WestieMed Recipient

At UGA, Hettie saw an incredible team of cardiologists. She was fitted with a vest to capture her heart rhythms. She was to wear the vest for one week UNLESS she had a seizure and then we were to send the vest back immediately. Within the first day at home wearing the vest, she had multiple seizures and the vest was sent back pronto.

The cardiologists at UGA read the results and contacted us that she was on emergency status. Her heart was stopping between nine-twelve seconds at a time and she was in danger! Emergency pacemaker surgery was needed and the cardiologists cleared their busy schedules just for her!

Now Hettie is home and on twelve weeks of bed rest and she is going on week three of doctor’s orders. (That’s a challenge to keep a Westie on bedrest!)

Our sweet little girl now has a new lease on life because of the pacemaker. Once her twelve weeks of healing are behind her, we know she’ll have many hours of playing with her new Westie and human family.

Thank you WestieMed for your help. We love our little Hettie. Her new life has begun.

Peggy McCall

Update January 24, 2020

Hettie had a three-month checkup at UGA after her pacemaker surgery. Without this surgery, Hettie would not have survived. The doctors at UGA reported how well her pacemaker is working and now she can finally have a life after three months of bed rest. (We called it house arrest.)

She came home yesterday from Athens after her checkup as a different and happy dog. Thankful for Westie Rescue Tennessee and WestieMed. You all saved her life and we hope she will finally enjoy the life she deserves. You answered our prayers. When I watch her play with her Westie brother and sister, my eyes leak happy tears.

Bless You all,
Peggy and Darrell

Update December 3, 2020

We are dedicated to Hettie and thanks to WestieMed, she did get her pacemaker and gave us hope. She has had a hard knock life and we will love her until the end.

Peggy and Darrell McCall

Update December 19, 2020

Hettie lost her battle and went to the Rainbow Bridge on Dec 16, 2020. WestieMed had provided assistance for Hettie this summer. She received a pacemaker and was recovering when she recently was diagnosed with Lymphoma. My husband and I are heartbroken. Yet grateful for the help and encouragement received from WestieMed.

Peggy

Miss Callie is a very special six to eight-year-old West Highland White Terrier that found as a stray by the City of Columbus Animal Control. She had a microchip, but the owner never registered it so when she had what they thought was a seizure in her cage they reached out to us at the Preston Cares Network Westie Rescue to pull her for $10 to get medical care as soon as her stray hold was complete.

When our vet looked at Callie, they quickly realized that there was something wrong with her heart and that her heartbeat was very irregular. It was beating very very slow; forty beats a minute. More tests were performed including an X-ray and an EKG. Those tests revealed she has Sick Sinus Syndrome. This syndrome is a condition in which the Sinus (the heart’s natural pacemaker) does not send regular signals to the heart to pump correctly. What animal control had thought was a seizure was Miss Callie passing out and coming too. Our vet consulted a specialist in Louisville, and after reviewing the test results, it was determined that she needs a pacemaker and as soon as possible. Our vet reached out to several teaching vet hospitals and collected quotes for the surgery. The closest and cheapest (and recommended) is Purdue University. In addition to the financial assistance we received from WestieMed, we also plan to fundraise through Facebook and our email list (as soon as the 4th is over) because we are expecting costs from $3,500 to $4,000. The total costs will also include the three days in ICU for recovering and adjusting the pacemaker, the testing that was already done, and the follow up care and trips to Purdue. Just through very limited word of mouth we have raised 150 dollars.

Miss Callie is one of the sweetest and kindest Westies we have ever had in our rescue. She wants to be around people and be held and wants to cuddle. She loves to sleep on pillows and gets along with the fosters Westies and cats. She knows several commands such as sit and stay, and leave it (well for a few seconds — she is a Westie after all) and is fully house trained. The vet said with this pacemaker she should completely recover and should have no more issues with the Sick Sinus Syndrome as long as the pacemaker is maintained each year. We hope to get Miss Callie this surgery so she can have a nice long life sleeping on someone couch enjoying the pet life.

Rachel Phelps
Preston Cares Network Westie Rescue

Update January 24, 2018

Callie - WestieMedGrant Recipient July 2017

Thanks to the very generous grant from WestieMed, Callie was able to have her pacemaker surgery at the University of Illinois (IU). Just recently, she had her six-month checkup, and the vets were happy to find that the pacemaker is working really well. They have even cleared her to have her dental soon. Also, her heart looks stable and hasn’t shown any signs of enlarging or more damage. She will always need extra care and checkups with her specialists, but the pacemaker has given her a great quality of life back. She now loves to play, go on walks, and even nap on her new family’s bed.

During the trips back and forth to IU, she met her future mom which is a 2nd-year vet student at the university. It was a perfect match! Callie is able to live close to her heart specialists and she has a mom and dad who is very knowledgeable about her condition! She even has a Westie brother to play with!

Callie has accepted a “dog job” with the IU vet school. She attends community events representing the cardiac program and she is a teaching assistant for the dental department for first-year students to practice doing dental exams. The students are learning so much from Callie! This shows how this WestieMed grant is helping more than just this one dog but is helping train future veterinarians about health conditions.

Preston Cares Network