Golden retriever has new lease on life, thanks to Good Samaritan, UF cardiologists

Thanks to a grant from a Good Samaritan and UF Veterinary Medical Center cardiologists, Tucker, a 2-year-old golden retriever with severe heart disease and no other chance for help,now is back home in Fort Myers with a new leash, er, lease, on life.

"Today I walked him and he walked me, 70 percent of the time," said Anne Liebermann, Tucker's owner. "He was really raring to go. When we first got him at the age of 4 months, he could do about a block and that was it."

Tucker's owners never limited his exercise; the dog did that on his own, Liebermann said. His condition had worsened to the point that he showed increasing signs of stress, including fainting, with minimal exercise and exertion.

"He's a purebred from a registered litter, but we knew when we got him that he was sick," Liebermann said. "We didn't have the cash or the funds to do anything other than normal maintenance but just decided we would give him as good a life as we could while he was with us."

Liebermann brought Tucker to Gainesville in mid-September on the advice of her veterinarian, who had learned about a congenital heart disease study underway at the VMC. The veterinarian believed Tucker might be a candidate.

After examining the dog, however, Dr. Amara Estrada, assistant professor of cardiology, and her team determined that Tucker did not qualify because his particular heart disease did not meet the study's criteria.

"He not only had really bad heart disease, his owner also was unable to afford an interventional procedure to treat him," Estrada said.

Approximately two years ago, however, an anonymous client generously donated $4,000 to the cardiology service to help the owners of cats that suffered from heart disease but who could not afford care.

Although Tucker was a dog, the funds had not been spent because there have not been any viable feline candidates, Estrada said. Meanwhile, however, UF cardiology team members had fallen in love with Tucker - and his owner.

Cardiology resident Dr. Mandi Schmidt contacted the anonymous donors to ask if they would agree to bend their rules this one time and allow Tucker's medical expenses to be covered through their gift. The owners agreed. Soon thereafter, UF's cardiologists had performed a cardiac catheterization and effectively ballooned his pulmonary valve.

"It was a very successful procedure," Estrada said. "Although Tucker will still not have a normal life expectancy, it will be so much better than it would have been."

Schmidt added that over a week after the procedure, Tucker was no longer fainting and that his owner described him as "like a new dog."

Liebermann added that she had not realized up until now how much Tucker's illness had taken out of him.

"He's just the sweetest thing," she said. "There's not a mean bone in his body. He is quite the mischief maker. If we hadn't heard about the study at UF we never would have taken him up, so everything really fell into place."