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Beamer
Larry Foreman said he didn't hesitate when doctors told him two years ago that his dog would need a human pacemaker in order to live.
Foreman, head of genealogy and special collections at the Ouachita Parish Public Library, said his dog Beamer's heart had stopped beating while being sedated for a routine teeth cleaning at his veterinarian's office.
"The veterinarian told me 'The only thing that will save this dog's life is a pacemaker, and the only place to do that is the LSU School of Veterinary Medicine,'" he said. "My wife and I don't have any children, and when you tell me my dog's going to die, it's a no brainer."
Now Beamer, a 16-year-old Scottish terrier, can be seen running playfully around the yard and barking zestfully at passersby.
Larry Foreman sits with his Scottish terrier, Beamer, who is to become part of an LSU study
to develop a pacemaker specifically for dogs. / Ben Corda/The News-Star
"He's a puppy again," Foreman said. "He doesn't know he's old."Because of Beamer's success with the pacemaker, he has become part of a unique research study by the same veterinarians at the LSU School of Veterinary Medicine who implanted his pacemaker in August 2009.
Dr. Romain Pariaut, assistant professor of veterinary cardiology at LSU, is the principal investigator in the study, which involves analyzing how to properly adjust pacemakers so they are more equipped for canines.
"There are no companies at this time that make pacemakers specifically designed for dogs," Pariaut said. "So what we are doing is figuring out the best way to program the human pacemakers so they will work better in dogs."
The pacemakers are usually donated unused by manufacturers and can cost a dog owner anywhere between $2,000 and $2,500 to have implanted into their pet, Pariaut said.
But because the device is programmed for a human's heart, there are some modifications that need to be made.
Pariaut said part of his research involves making the pacemaker's sensor more sensitive to the changes in a dog's heart rate.
"Dogs have faster heart rates than people, and the heart rate varies much faster and wider than ours do," he said, adding that a dog's heart rate can go from about 40 beats per minute while resting to more than 200 beats per minute while active.
The goal is to modify the pacemakers so they can accommodate such a wide range in heart rate, he said.
"With pacemakers, you can choose the range," he said. "We want to give them a big range so they can behave like normal dogs."
Because Beamer has had the pacemaker for two years, researchers can obtain more insight into how their adjustments are working, Pariaut said.
"Now that we have more information, we can see what the pacemaker is doing and adjust the sensors," he said.
Beamer will be making another trip to Baton Rouge this week for his next checkup, which he does about every six months, Foreman said.
The veterinarians will conduct exercise tests that will monitor Beamer's heart rate while resting, walking and running. Pariaut said there are around 20 dogs involved in the ongoing study.
Pariaut said he usually has around 15 to 20 dogs brought in to receive a pacemaker in a year, but that the number of dogs that actually need the device is probably much higher because some owners may not be willing to pay for it.
But Foreman said it was worth the expense to have his dog healthy and happy again.
"This will impact a lot of dogs going forward," he said. "It's a huge deal because there aren't many dogs with pacemakers out there. He's become quite a celebrity."
via TheNewsStar.com
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