Lucy usually sleeps through the night, but she woke us up around 3 or 4 am Thursday morning with a weak, whimpering sort of bark. We thought maybe she needed to go out to relieve herself, so I got up and went to the living room, where we keep the crate she has to sleep in because of some inappropriate urination. I opened the door and called her, but she couldn’t get up. She struggled for a few moments, then I reached in and brought her out onto the floor. She couldn’t stand up. She normally has a kind of splayed stance because of her hips and knees that gives her trouble on the hardwood, but this was different. She would just topple over.

So I took her into the garage where we have a utility carpet strip leading to the outside door. She was still very uncertain on her feet. She continued to stagger around and fall over. I picked her up again and put her in the flower bed, where she often relieves herself, but she couldn’t stand up.

I brought her back inside and put her into her crate. She kind of half stood, and looked around like she was trying to figure out where she was. I thought maybe she would be more comfortable if she could lie down next to Sam and Zeke, and possibly even us, so I brought her crate into the bedroom. After I turned out the light, every time I checked, she was still looking around. After about an hour and a half, I finally heard her snoring.

Thursday morning she seemed much improved. I took her to the vet, who said she now has a heart murmur that she didn’t have a couple of weeks ago when she was in for her checkup. Although the symptoms aligned with the list for a stroke, the vet said Lucy had suffered a heart attack.

Now, Thursday afternoon, she’s barky and snippy when we give her a treat by hand, so pretty much back to normal, but she’s on a veterinary medication for congestive heart failure for the rest of her life. For some time she has been balking at taking the regular long dog walk every morning. From now on, she’s probably going to get a pass on that, unless she volunteers.