Left Atrial Decompression in a Dog
Ah B, 12 years old, was a challenging case, battling refractory or stage D myxomatous mitral valve disease (MMVD), atrial fibrillation, heartworm disease, and pulmonary hypertension. Despite maximal medical management, he required 4 emergency admissions over the past six months. We knew that his life is nearing its end. In an effort to slow […]
Heartworm Removal in a Poodle
On 28 December 2025, heartworm removal was performed in a poodle weighing 4.35 kg, via minimally invasive surgery. Although only a single worm was extracted, removing one heartworm can be much harder than removing a whole bunch. Imagine fishing in a pool, catching one fish is often harder than catching many fish. The heartworm […]
Successful heartworm removal surgery
Recently, our team performed surgery to remove heartworms from a local dog. When is heartworm removal by surgery indicated? When heartworms have migrated downstream into the right atrium and right ventricle, causing obstruction, surgery to remove the worms is recommended. If heartworms are present in the pulmonary artery, their removal is technically challenging and […]
Prevalence of heart failure among different common dog breeds
The graph below depicts the prevalence of heart failure due to MMVD among different dog breeds at Shinzō Clinic. Prevalence refers to the number of dogs within each breed examined by us that were found to succumb to heart failure. Breeds such as the miniature pinscher, chihuahua, and cavalier King Charles spaniel are the top […]
Dog breeds by percentage at Shinzō
This pie chart illustrates the distribution of dog breeds by percentage, which were presented for cardiac evaluation at our clinic. A total of 1003 dogs were seen by us. The most common breed is the Poodle, followed by the Shih Tzu, Pomeranian, and Miniature Schnauzer. Please note that not all dogs had heart disease. This […]
