A Scare

We had a bit of a scare with Athena this past summer. We noticed she was having difficulty breathing and seemed rather diminished overall.  Of course we were concerned and took her to the vet. Her blood work looked good and nothing looked out of the ordinary except for a shadowy mass that showed up in an x-ray. The vet recommended we take her to the emergency vet which would have the equipment to do an MRI. 

Athena at the vet the day before taking her to the animal hospital.

We took her the next day and of course assumed the worst - that it was cancer. She is, after all, 12 years old which is the average age for a black lab. It didn't help that the people waiting near us lost their dog during their visit. Athena's been such a healthy dog during the time we've had her. There have only been regular check-ups for us to contend with. No major health concerns. During her visit to the vet in the spring the tech was amazed she's as old as she is based on just looking at her before her records. 

Athena at the vet the day before taking her to the animal hospital. 

We had to wait a few hours before we could see Athena and were happy that the MRI didn't show anything out of the ordinary. It turns out she has a exceptionally tight spinal cord that were overworking the muscles surrounding it - the same muscles she uses to breath. We were overjoyed to find out it can be managed with pain killers.

Athena at the animal hospital/emergency vet. 

At the emergency vet Athena was quite doped up for her MRI and remained so for quite a while afterward. She walked into a wall when they brought he in the consulting room after the  procedure. 

While waiting at the emergency vet we allowed ourselves the believe that we had for sure lost her. We felt we had a new lease on our own lives when we found out she was going to be okay. She is our beloved pet and means the world to us. 

Above photos dated July 26th & 27th just before Athena turned 11.