Dixie Dix

Today, I discovered that our Dixie Dog is sick. She needed to go in for her yearly check-up and vaccinations.
In Oklahoma, we always just took her to the Vet Clinic on post. Now, I knew that we didn't get wonderful care there...as they just adminitered the vaccines and collected money - but I figured that was the nature most vets, since that is how we were treated the two times I took Dixie to a civilian vet.
I am so sorry for believing such a thing...

I had asked a few neighbors where they took their animals, and made a decision based on how much I trusted their opinion....And what a great decision I made! I was so impressed with how incredibly warm and friendly the staff was. I liken it to the upgrade in care my children receive at the University of Virginia....fabulous.

As for the diagnosis, Dixie looks wonderful, is a well-behaved child - er, dog - and is a healthy weight. She does have bradycardia, which is a slowed heart rate. I wasn't extremely worried about that, because she does run with Richard, and athletic people/animals have a tendancy to require less beats for minute.

But Dixie also has a heart murmur. The bradycardia could be related to the heart murmur, or could be a separate condition due to her murmur. In order to find more information, further tests would be necessary.

Richard and I decided that we will allow the vet to monitor her heart while we are here. Because the murmur was still light, it doesn't indicate a severe heart condition - and she is not exhibiting any symptoms to indicate poor health either.

It is kind of alarming to me that she could possibly just have a heart attack one day - you don't really think of things happening to doggies like that.