our sweet gnarly-hearted dog

for those of you just hearing about our jonas - he's our dog - he's been having coughing fits for quite a while now. and after some extensive and expensive tests and a scary report - we now have a diagnosis. :)

He has a condition called endocardiosis - a very common heart disease in small breeds. Endocardiosis basically means that the valves in his heart are twisted and knotted, preventing his blood from flowing as it should - causing the blood to back up into his lungs and into his heart, enlarging it. In humans, valve replacement surgery for this is very common, but our Jonas is a dog whether he wants to believe that or not. :) We caught his condition pretty early on so with medicine, jonas should have quite a few more years with us. He has responded really well to the medicine the vet put him on initially so we are continuing with those: the antibiotic for the slight pneumonia, the diruetic to help his blood flow more easily, and adding another - the ACE Inhibitor to help the heart pump the blood.

even though his heart is unfixable - it is treatable - and for that we are so grateful. we are not ready to be a family without our jonas.

picking out our perfect puppy

letting our puppy enjoy the outdoors - he liked to eat the concrete sidewalk?

taking our jonas to vacation with us at green lake michigan - he LOVED it! he's watching over little eben on the dock. :)

oh the things you do to get a picture - HA :)

our jonas all grown up. we just love him.

for those of you just hearing about our jonas - he's our puppy - he's been having coughing fits for quite a while now. and after some extensive and expensive tests and a scary report - we now have a diagnosis. :)

He has a condition called endocardiosis - a very common heart disease in small breeds. Endocardiosis basically means that the valves in his heart are twisted and knotted, preventing his blood from flowing as it should - causing the blood to back up into his lungs and into his heart, enlarging it. In humans, valve replacement surgery for this is very common, but our Jonas is a dog whether he wants to believe that or not. :) We caught his condition pretty early on so with medicine, jonas should have quite a few more years with us. He has responded really well to the medicine the vet put him on initially so we are continuing with those: the antibiotic for the slight pneumonia, the diruetic to help his blood flow more easily, and adding another - the ACE Inhibitor to help the heart pump the blood.

even though his heart is unfixable - it is treatable - and for that we are so grateful. we are not ready to be a family without our jonas.