pet connection

On a typical Sunday morning, I’m reading the NY Times and listening to the puzzle on NPR, mountain biking at Aliso Wood Canyon, or going for my favorite walk in Laguna Beach. But once a year we get up early, load the dogs in the car and drive to Laguna.

Not to the beach. Our destination is Canyon Animal Hospital, where our vet, John Hamil, and his wife Susan host an annual health fair for our Cavalier park group as well as a few of Susan’s Bloodhounds (the 7-week-old puppy at the right is already three pounds heavier than 1-year-old Harper).

My friend Tamela handles registrations, and I’m the veterinarian liaison, making sure the cardiologist, ophthalmologist and the Hamils are all available on the same day at the same time. Jerry helps check people in, directs traffic and wrangles our dogs. Between 8 and noon yesterday, we herded 50-odd Cavaliers through two small exam rooms to have their hearts auscultated and their eyes examined.

It’s like a party. Check in, fill out your paperwork, grab a donut and some coffee, then visit with your friends until it’s your dog’s turn. Heidi, the ophthalmology assistant, comes out periodically to dilate the eyes of dogs that have just arrived. This is SoCal, so canine fashions in the form of Puppia harnesses and Doggles make an appearance.

During a lull, we watch the heron who lives across the street in Laguna Coast Wilderness Park. Dr. Hamil points out an egret in a tree, and we reminisce about how barren the park was after the fires in 1993.

We’re lucky to have two specialists willing to spend their Sunday morning examining our dogs for heart murmurs and eye diseases: Michael Lesser, DVM, a cardiologist, and Tony Basher, DVM, an ophthalmologist. Harper was first, and Dr. Lesser says she’s a good start to the day. Murmur-free. She and several siblings had innocent murmurs as puppies, so it’s nice to have reconfirmation that she really doesn’t have a murmur.

Dr. Lesser says he and his colleagues participate in 8 to 10 screening clinics annually. “So what’s the value for you in doing these clinics?” I ask him.

We think it helps the breeds as a whole. By limiting the amount of congenital or genetic transmission of disease, it will lessen the incidence and increase the awareness of cardiovascular disease in dogs. It’s one of those illnesses where being prepared for what may happen and keeping on top of it can really help so they don’t end up in the hospital with severe congestive heart failure.

Sometimes there are tears when a murmur is diagnosed. Most people in our group know Darcy’s story. I feel bad that they’re scared, so I remind them about Bella. She was diagnosed with a murmur when she was 3 and celebrates her 13th birthday next Monday. Tamela chimes in, echoing what Dr. Lesser said. “Now you know and you can keep an eye on it.”

Dr. Basher admires how healthy the dogs are that he’s seeing. He and Heidi do about three health clinics annually, mainly for Cavaliers, Labradors and Belgian Malinois. Today, he says, “I’ve not seen anything really serious.” He likes the health fairs because they bring in people who might otherwise not have thought to have preventive health care. In Cavaliers, the most common eye problem is corneal dystrophy, a pretty harmless condition. Bella has nuclear sclerosis but no cataracts. Twyla has pigment specks on the anterior surface of the lens. In her right eye, Harper has mild retinal dysplasia, “folds” in the inner retinal layer. Dr. Basher says it’s probably not genetic and won’t affect her vision at all.

Dr. Lesser has to leave at noon to make it to his son’s wrestling match. Amazingly, we are all done by then. Everyone has shown up, and on time. We didn’t even need a Border Collie.