#39 Canine cardiology

I just bought a birthday card for my son-in-law. It's as cute as he is. I don't have grandchildren, but I do have a "grand puppy," an 18 year old Chihuahua with a bad heart, mild dementia, and almost no teeth. She is happy in her limited dog-life and my daughter is willing to pay the high drug bills to keep her alive as long as she is not suffering.

Anyway, the card has a photo of a Chihuahua sitting atop a 3 tier chocolate birthday cake, on a table with white linen and china, under a chandelier. Front text: "Birthdays are like life. Just when you think it's a piece of cake. . . " and the inside says, ". . .some little mutt sits in your frosting Happy Birthday." A lot of truth in that card.

When Tita was much younger, and not expected to live because she had a bad heart valve, I asked the heart specialist, Dr. Robert Hamlin, at the OSU veterinary college where I worked if he would take a look at her. Bob is a terrific guy who loves both animals and people, so he did that for me. After examining her on his lunch hour, he handed that quivering little taupe bundle back to my tearful daughter and said she’d have a long healthy life.

Years later when I was in the hospital after heart surgery, two of the cardiologists who stopped by on rounds told me they had worked with Dr. Hamlin, one of the finest canine cardiologists in the country. I felt a lot better about their credentials.