A couple of months ago, we noticed J was having hard time with high intensity activity. We used to always go for bike rides and he would run for 2-3 miles. A month or so ago we tried to take him and about a tenth of a mile from home he laid down and refused to run anymore. We thought he was just being weird, so we let it go. Again a couple of weeks later. This time it was pretty hot, so we chalked it up to that. When it happened again at night when it was cool, we decided we needed to take him in to the vet.
His exam revealed that while his heartbeat is strong and steady, it's low. he is consistently 60-70 bpm at rest and 70-80 while active. The vet said she wasn't overly worried about it, but to keep an eye on him and if we felt like things were getting worse or just wanted to explore it more in depth to either let her know or call the cardiac vet.
When we noticed that things weren't getting any better and that it's definitely impacting his way of life (not able to run or play for long periods anymore), I called the cardiac vet. It will be $1000 to do the EKG, which might not even tell us what's wrong with him. They did mention that there are some blood tests that can be done to rule out other problems that are causing the heart problem, such as hypothyroid. Since just seeing the cardiac vet is a $400 fee, we decided to talk to our regular vet about the blood tests. I have a call into her to discuss our options but she's out and won't be in again until the morning. I'm extremely anxious, though, and just wondering if anyone has been through something similar.