Gussiethehappypeke's Vet Bills

Hi everyone,
Gussie is my thirteen year old paralyzed Pekingese. He has had such a tough life but no matter what, he is a fighter and always pulls through. He was diagnosed with heart disease in May 2015. Since then, it has progressively gotten worse. He's had multiple vet/emergency animal hospital visits. He currently has a stage 5/6 heart murmur. Gussie had his first echocardiogram in May and the vet did not prescribe him medicine because it was not needed at that point. We had him reevaluated with another echocardiogram in November. We found out his murmur progressed to a stage 4/6. His heart was enlarged. We learned from his echo that he had chronic degenerative valve disease, mild pulmonary hypertension and ruptured chordae tendineae. His report states "There is significant disease progression from the previous evaluation with now at least moderate secondary left sided cardiomegaly. These changes represent an early risk. There is no evidence of congestive heart failure." He was prescribed Vetmedin 1.25mg - 1 tablet every 12 hours and Enalapril 2.5mg - 1 tablet every 12 hours.''

About a week ago, I realized Gussie was having a difficult time breathing. He was restless at night time. I brought him into his regular vet and we were told his heart murmur sounded worse and we were told to schedule another echocardiogram immediately. We could not get an appointment at his regular vet for the echo so we had to go to the animal hospital. We just came home from his echocardiogram at Cornell University Veterinary Specialists. His cardiology report states that he has thickened mitral valve leaflets, consistent with degenerative valve disease. The insufficient valve allows blood to flow back into the left atrium. This inefficient blood flow causes the heart to work harder, but less efficiently. The increased left ventricular pressures during rest force the atrium to stretch as it attempts to overcome the elevated ventricular pressures. This can result in arrhythmias, cough, congestive heart failure, and left atrial splitting. He was prescribed a new medication- Spironolactone 25mg tablet twice a day.

The bill for today's visit came to $825.00. I put the charge on my credit card but honestly I had no idea it would cost that much. His echos at his vet usually cost around $400.  Between this visit and last weeks visit, the total comes to $1,126. I also put the vet visit from last week, on my credit card. With all of his recent vet visits and daily medications, the costs has added up quicker than anticipated.

Any help is much appreciated! Thank you so much for taking the time to read Gussie's story!! We love Gussie so much and want to do as much as we possibly can to make sure he's with us for a long, long time!!