Just one month ago, Ella was a normal dog to us. Well, maybe not normal. We think Ella's pretty special and everyone that meets her falls in love. She's the sweetest dog I've ever met and she’s never met someone she didn't like. She loves unconditionally.
A few weeks ago we started noticing Ella was developing a gagging cough, sort of like she had a hairball or was trying to throw up. Nothing ever came up though and we just assumed she had some sort of upper respiratory issue. Along with the gagging came grunting. Ella's always been a vocal dog – she "talks" to us regularly. We thought this was just another way of her communicating.
Our cat had an appointment at the veterinarian's office for a check-up, so I had Ella added on to the appointment. The vet listened to her lungs and heart and gave her an exam. Her lungs sounded clear, but we started her on an antibiotic as a first step. That night I gave her her first pill.
Just as we were headed to bed, Ella began coughing and gagging rather violently. I got up to try calming her down. Just as I reached her, she fell from a standing position to lying on her side and started convulsing. She was having a seizure. I screamed for Grant, but when I turned back around she was sitting up like nothing had happened. We noticed she had lost control of her bladder though and was breathing heavily. I talked to her soothingly and rubbed her ears for a few minutes, but she continued to struggle. We made the decision to take her to the emergency vet, which is thankfully a block from our house.
The emergency veterinarian also didn't hear anything in her lungs, but said her heart sounds were coming from a place further away than they should have been. He took an x-ray and discovered Ella's true condition. There, lying between her lungs and heart, was a tumor the size of a softball. The tumor was pressing on her windpipe, which was causing the gagging. The vet told us we needed to get her help as soon as possible, since the exact conditions were unknown and she continued to struggle to breathe. He suggested a few locations, but when he mentioned the University of Florida's Veterinary Hospital, I started nodding. I told Grant we should go there because Dolly's Foundation, a Central Florida pit bull rescue organization, has starting saving puppies with swimmer puppy syndrome by taking them there for treatment and therapy.
We brought Ella home, packed a bag, and left for Gainesville at 1:30am.
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