Canine Catheter Heart Surgery: Transcatheter Aortic Valve Replacement in a Dog

You would think that heart surgery on a dog is fancy enough concept. It gets better–heart surgery on a dog using a catheter.

Sabbath is a 7-year-old Malamute. He was suffering from heart failure and would have died. But now he has a new heart valve.

Canine Catheter Heart Surgery: Transcatheter Aortic Valve Replacement in a Dog

Instead of open-heart surgery, the procedure is performed by the use of a flexible tube that can be inserted through a narrow opening–using an artery in the dog’s leg in this case.

The veterinarians at the Colorado State University, with the assistance of UCHealth, have used this technique to replace a damaged heart valve.

Sabbath, the lucky patient, was suffering from congestive heart failure after an infection damaged one of his heart valves. An open-heart surgery would have been too risky.

This was the first time a dog received this surgery. Sabbath’s heart now works properly and he has a clean bill of health.

Source article:
Colorado State veterinarian successfully replaces dog’s heart valve using catheter

Categories: Alternative treatments • Conditions • Heart disease • Transcatheter aortic valve replacement

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Jana Rade

I am a graphic designer, dog health advocate, writer, and author. Jasmine, the Rottweiler of my life, was the largest female from her litter. We thought we were getting a healthy dog. Getting a puppy from a backyard breeder was our first mistake. Countless veterinary visits without a diagnosis or useful treatment later, I realized that I had to take Jasmine's health care in my own hands. I learned the hard way that merely seeing a vet is not always enough. There is more to finding a good vet than finding the closest clinic down the street. And, sadly, there is more to advocating for your dog's health than visiting a veterinarian. It should be enough, but it often is not. With Jasmine, it took five years to get a diagnosis. Unfortunately, other problems had snowballed for that in the meantime. Jasmine's health challenges became a crash course in understanding dog health issues and how to go about getting a proper diagnosis and treatment. I had to learn, and I had to learn fast. Helping others through my challenges and experience has become my mission and Jasmine's legacy. I now try to help people how to recognize and understand signs of illness in their dogs, how to work with their veterinarian, and when to seek a second opinion. My goal is to save others the steep curve of having to learn things the hard way as I did. That is the mission behind my blog and behind my writing. That is why I wrote Symptoms to Watch for in Your Dog, which has turned out being an award-winning guide to dog owners. What I'm trying to share encompasses 20 years of experience.

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