Dog Fine with new pacemaker PDF  | Print |  E-mail
His name is Samson, but his friends call him Sam. He weighs 100 pounds and it's all heart.

Last spring, he rescued a baby squirrel that fell out of its nest during a thunderstorm. So, when Sam's owners, Ezra and Kelly Sidran of Davenport, discovered the 8-year old Rottweiler-mix dog had an erratic heartbeat in his pony keg-size chest, they were devastated.

"He's the greatest dog," Kelly Sidran said. "He is as much a part of the family as the kids are, and sometimes even more."

Sam was being seen by his regular veterinarian for a benign tumor on his leg when Dr. Larry Tadlock discovered the problem.

Tadlock sent Sam to Davenport to see Dr. Ryan Less, a veterinarian at Kimberly Crest Veterinary Hospital. "I performed an electrocardiogram and with that I diagnosed him with an atrioventicular block," Less said. The diagnosis meant Sam's heart was beating so slowly it would not sustain him much longer.

"Without a pacemaker, we would probably be looking at months to live," he said.

"I don't know what Ezra would do without him," Kelly Sidran said of her husband's friendship with the canine. "Sam is his best friend."

An erratic heartbeat is an extremely rare condition, particularly in large dogs. It is also difficult to find a veterinarian capable of implanting a pacemaker. Sam was facing nothing less than a death sentence.

"This is where the miracle comes in," Ezra Sidran said.

The veterinarian just happened to have a friend, Dr. Barrett Bulmer, doing a research project on implanting human pacemakers in dogs.

Ezra Sidran and Sam traveled to the University of Illinois College of Veterinary Medicine in Champaign/Urbana to meet Bulmer, a specialist in canine cardiology, who signed Sam up as one of only a handful of dogs to receive an experimental pacemaker.

Bulmer said the first pacemaker implanted in a dog was reported in 1968. What makes his research project special is the type of pacemaker used. Pacemakers normally implanted in dogs are recycled ones made for people but no longer eligible for human use because they have sat on the shelf too long.

The traditional pacemaker maintains a heartbeat of 100 per minute whether the dog is sleeping or playing. The experimental Medtronic pacemaker Sam received allows him to have a variable heartbeat. When he is sleeping, his heart rate will slow to 40 or 50 beats a minute, and when he is active, it increases to 180 beats a minute.

"That means Sam's heart functions more efficiently, which means less wear and tear on it," Bulmer said.

The other benefit is that because Sam is a big dog, the pacemaker is better suited to his heart. The three-month study will evaluate how the more sophisticated pacemaker improves the dog's life-span, attitude and activity at home.

Sam recently underwent the 2 1/2-hour surgery and came through ready to tackle a new chew toy. "He understood he was sick, and now he understands that he feels better," Ezra Sidran said.

Sam also made quite a few new friends during his time at the veterinary college. "All the doctors kissed him goodbye. One of the students also put a big heart on his bandages," his owner said.

Within 24 hours, Sam became as active as a 100-pound, 8-year-old puppy, he added.

Sam will be outfitted with a monitor to track his heart rate and check for arrhythmia over a longer period of time. He will be required to wear the device 24 hours a day, but Less said the good-hearted canine is expected to take it in stride.

"He's gone through a lot of stuff and he's really been a good sport," he said. Receiving the pacemaker should allow Sam to lead a normal life.

"Sam came home the Wednesday before Thanksgiving, so every year now, we are going to call it Sam's Day," Ezra Sidran said. "We going to have a big party, include all his friends, his favorite food and celebrate."