<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; border-collapse: collapse; ">We want to thank everybody who voted for us in the "Living the Life" photo contest. I thought it was just a photo contest and was over on Sunday. We got a lot of votes (not sure what the final count was) but I knew it wasn't enough to overcome the front runner. So much to my surprise on Monday I received an email telling me that we are among the top ten finalists! Happy news because we still have a chance, but now we have to go for an on camera interview (I have stage fright so am expecting disaster) that I think will be then shown online and people will again have to choose a favorite. So thank you for voting for us and I'll probably plead for votes again once round 2 gets started. The winner receives $500 which I will be using as my Boardwaddle pledge for Izzy and Teddy.<div>
<br></div><div>I need some drooler advice. Teddy (@8 years old) was just diagnosed with a heart murmur. He does not have any symptoms and in fact has been more active than ever since Izzy came on the scene - plays more, runs more. He's even dropped about 10 lbs. Because of where we live, we have access to 2 facilities that have veterinary cardiologists. My vet is advising an echo cardiogram although she says it's not urgent and if I want to wait because of finances, that's ok. The cost is a minimum $400, but could go up if they want more tests. I am interested in anybody else's experience with this. My understanding is that heart murmurs are quite common, that they eventually cause the heart to enlarge and at some point medication is necessary. I'm not sure if the medication is to treat the symptoms of an enlarged heart or if you can start them on a low dosage early on, if it can prevent damage to the heart. I'm just not sure what to do at this point as it feels like a slippery slope to me. I want the best for Teddy but don't want to subject him or me to unnecessary (and expensive) testing if it will just provide us with more information that we already know about. And I hate the thought of drugs and wonder if there's something herbal or natural that might benefit him.</div>
<div><br></div><div>Thanks again and if you have any advice, I'm all ears!</div><div>Beth</div><font color="#888888"><div>&Teddy &Izzy</div></font></span>