On Jan 18 we came to the Millard Canyon Falls Trail with 2 other friends plus 4 extra humans, we ended up coming to this exact same trail again a few weeks later by accident because of a google map hiccup.
That was a warm day, we missed a turn in the beginning and went up to the Sunset Ridge Trail. The roasting sun gave the white fluffy pup too much trouble to keep up, she and her parents had to leave when we finally figured out where the actual Millard Canyon Falls trail head was, too early even before I could remember her name.
Our new friend Koda is a young Australian Shepherd puppy. We pressed on going down for 3 miles to the waterfall.
Let's address the elephant in the room, I've never mentioned about this new medical issue Actaeas has on the blog before because I had no clue what that was until recently.
The first time was actually reported by Ti-mom back in 2016, she saw Actaeas suddenly failed backwards out of nowhere and popped right back up after few seconds. It was hard to imagine what she saw, I didn't know what that was and what action should be taken. I never see Actaeas doing that until a year later.
It was quite frustrating not knowing what's happening to him, it only occurred at home, never under an intense hike and also probably only once or twice a year, I was puzzled, even our regular vet doesn't know why.
These episodes happened more and more frequently in 2020, I was finally able to catch it on video and have a better understanding that besides seizure, there's another type of event called syncope and they could look every similar.
I was able to find the pattern that coughing is the trigger for the event, Actaeas coughs whenever he drinks water or after he sprints in full speed for few minutes. If water is offered after the sprint, there's 80% of the chance he will cough then collapse.
in this video I wasn't able to record right when the event started, it usually starts fast and end within seconds.
in February I was pretty sure this could be syncope not seizure, but I am not a doctor, also didn't want to eliminate any possibilities based on my untrained eyes. We scheduled a visit with both a neurologist and a cardiologist. Took 3 weeks of waiting, I never knew it's that hard to see a doctor right away even for animals in the U.S..
After evaluations, the neurologist didn't want to say this is 100% not a seizure, but she believes it seems more like syncope, which will be a cardiology related issue unless the cardiologist thinks otherwise. On the neurology side, pup will have to go through more invasive examinations, she didn’t think it’s worth putting him down for an MRI or sticking pads on Actaeas' head to trigger his episodes just yet.
For Cardiac evaluation, there is no overt evidence of underlying heart disease that can explain Actaeas' clinical signs. Based on echocardiogram, his heart is normal in structure and function. My tears almost came out hearing this. Sinus rhythm to sinus tachycardia turned out normal. The cardiology doctor suggested it is possible that arrhythmia can be occurring and resulting Actaea's brief episodes of collapse.
For chest x-rays, there is no evidence of airway or lung disease, but the underlying cause of the cough is unable to be determined. They could only confirm that his cough is not a result of cardiac disease.
The nest day I received Actaeas' tests result for blood work including CBC, chemistry, thyroid hormone level also urinalysis. Everything returns normal, metabolic causes of syncope were eliminated for now.
It was such great news for me to know Actaeas is healthy, but also bad news for all that $$$$ spent and we learned nothing. A 24hr heart monitor was recommended to evaluate for arrhythmia at particular time, the trick is during the period he has the device on, we need to try to trigger the event.
And than COVID-19 hits the town :')
I was and still unable to schedule another appointment to move forward for a Holter monitor test. To stop making Actaeas run crazy or not giving him water before he calms down are the only two things I could do right now, and have been very effective.
We were lucky that I made a month's worth of homemade food for Actaeas and Salacia(yes, his cat sister) right before people wiped out every single grocery store. Before self quarantine happened we drove all the way to Fresno to see some left over spring blossoms plus human grocery shopping on the side, yap, you gotta steal resources from another town to survive. I just wanted to make a Shepherd's Pie for upcoming Saint Patrick day, and we couldn't get any ingredients.
Yet, Actaeas and Salacia officially went out of food and got switched onto a kibble diet a few days ago :(
It's insane in our city people have to line up to enter a grocery store. Just like in Disneyland, I can see lines wrapping around the building and extend all the way to the parking lot. Shelves are mostly empty, buying eggs or meat at Costco is limited to one member per pack like buying a pair of limited edition Nike shoes.
Working from home granted me more time with this little one, and he gave us a free pass to walk outside. We try our best to support local business, the restaurant we love, and hope everything will go back to normal soon.
