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"In order to really enjoy a dog, one doesn’t merely try to train
him to be semi-human. The point of it is to open oneself to the
possibility of becoming partly a dog."
Edward
Hoagland
Dogs and the Tug of Life (1975)
ATHENS, GA (USA)
— And what better way is there of becoming partly
a dog than to physically transplant your body into a dog after you die?
Well, it's not quite as simple as that;
human organs are generally incompatible with canine bodies, but as one
avant-gardist from Athens just proved: we can donate a pacemaker to
a dog. Yesterday's Atlanta
Journal-Constitution carried the story of Dorothea Edwards and
her posthumous pacemaker present to a pooch.
Having died on Feb. 4 at the age of 80,
Ms. Edwards left instructions with her family that her pacemaker be
donated to an animal. A little-known fact is that, while U.S.
federal regulations prohibit person-to-person pacemaker donations, there
is no such restraint on offering the item to a dog, cat, pig or other
animal that shares a human's cardiovascular arrangement. Ms.
Edwards, an organ donor, understood this and made provisions to leave her
pacemaker to the University
of Georgia (UGA) College of Veterinary Medicine.
Last week, the lucky beneficiary was
"Sunshine", a 9½-year-old German Shepherd mix who has, until
now, had a life's worth of hard luck.
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The initial decision to have a pacemaker installed was an easy one, and the
Wrens wasted no time in arranging the procedure. They recall how, as the surgery was about to get underway,
the vet techs at UGA gathered around the pooch to administer anesthesia and sing,
"You are my Sunshine, my only Sunshine". That's when the
dog
went into cardiac arrest (their singing must've been really bad).
Some
Facts About
Pacemakers for Dogs |
| Pacemakers implanted
in dogs each year (USA only) |
about 150 |
| Average cost of a
(dog's) pacemaker |
$4000 to $6000
USD |
| Percentage of people
who donate their pacemakers to animals |
10%
(Most people are buried with them.) |
Emergency procedures went into effect, Sunshine's chest cavity was
split open and "fur was flying everywhere", but the little
trooper eventually pulled through through the crisis with a new, electronically-enhanced
ticker. Sunshine was back to her old, energetic self again "like
turning on a light switch."
Then, about a year later, Sunshine began to have severe complications
(lights off again). The inexplicable problems persisted, culminating
on Dec. 30 last year when she had a seizure and collapsed while being
taken for a walk. It was soon determined that the ventricular lead
of her pacemaker had broken. One more surgery fixed the problem
(lights on), but only temporarily...
In late January, the recently-repaired
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Several years ago, Sunshine was adopted by neighbors Cindy and John
Wren when the dog's home was raided by SWAT teams and the occupants were
arrested for running a drug and prostitution ring. Sunshine's owner
turned out to be #2 on the FBI's Most Wanted List.
After that, the Wrens went to extraordinary lengths to rehabilitate the
dog, both physically and mentally. But in 1998, Sunshine became very
listless, lost her appetite and began fainting often. Medical
examinations revealed that she had a congenital heart defect and required
a pacemaker to be surgically implanted.
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At last, Sunshine's savior appeared: Dorothea Edwards. On Friday,
Mar. 1 at 12:30pm, Ms. Edwards' life-saving legacy (a brand new,
state-of-the-art pacemaker) was attached to
Sunshine's heart, and the surgery was declared a complete success.
Thanks to Ms. Edwards, one very excited dog is expected to live out the
rest of her natural life ...with the lights on.
Update Mar 8, 2002:
After running this article, we got one very clever suggestion from a
reader who pointed out that people who choose to be cremated must (by law) have their pacemakers removed first.
Anyone in need of a pacemaker for a dog
should call the local funeral home. Thanks to Jeannie and her "legal
advisor!"
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