Project Manager had no interest in chasing the lure and retired at the early age of 2 with no races recorded.  During her pre-spay exam, the vet noted that she had a slight heart murmur.  As there was no history of exercise intolerance or coughing they proceeded with her spay procedure.  During the procedure, she started discharging pinkish fluid through the endotracheal tube, indicating that there was some fluid in the chest cavity.  Subsequent x-rays showed heart chamber enlargement and potential lung disease.  Project Manager recovered without incident from the spay and made the trip from Abilene to Canada to join the NSGA family. 

As recommended by the vet, we had her seen by a cardiologist soon after she arrived and was diagnosed Myxomatous mitral valve disease (MMVD).   blood can leak back through the valve when the heart contracts. Instead of moving out of the heart and circulating through the body when the heart contracts, the blood moves backward through the faulty valve. Over time, as the valve continues to degenerate and more and more blood flows backward, the heart tries to compensate for the backflow by enlarging. However, there is a limit to what the heart can do and ultimately, the heart begins to fail.  In her case, this is likely a genetic trait, existing from birth and providing a good explanation for why she had not interest in running. 

To treat her condition, Project Manager requires daily medications, regular monitoring of her condition and bi-annual cardiology check-ups.  With the high cost of her care being a barrier to adoption, Project Manager entered our Forever Care program.  We reached out to the community to find a foster family and Andre and Cathy immediately responded.   They had recently lost a greyhound to heart disease and knew just what was needed.  They cover Ellie’s (as she is now known) day to day expenses and NSGA covers the cost of her medications and regular cardiology visits (approx. $2000/yr).  

Under their excellent care, Ellie’s condition has remained stable and in fact at her last cardiology exam, improvement of the cardiac chamber size was noted!  She enjoys a full life with walks, zoomies and ruling over her greyhound brother Bugsy.   Everyone who meets Ellie is enchanted by this sweet girl. 

It take a community to manage a project, and in Ellie’s case, to provide what is needed to live a longer than expected and happy life.