Other than only weighing 26 lbs, having a raging skin infection and being grubby and dirty when found, what could possibly be wrong with the little guy?
Just a life-threatening heart defect- nothing much!
Wyatt has what is known as a PDA - Patent Ductus Arteriosus . A PDA is caused by a duct that was used while the puppy (or really any mammal- humans too) was in the womb failing to close off after birth. This routes blood around the lungs and leaves the dog with poorly oxygenated blood and often other symptoms such as severe heart murmur, "backwash" in some of the heart chambers, low energy, failure to thrive, stunted growth, etc. Wyatt has it in spades with most of its side effects. Some PDA's will go away on their own but Wyatt's unfortunately is going nowhere fast w/out surgery. So he'll be getting surgery later this month.
If you really want the whole-enchillada explanation- head on over here ->Wikipedia PDA-o-rama
Wyatt's a happy guy though- he's got no clue there's anything wrong. He just tires easily and needs heart meds and controlled exercise (ha!) til we can fix him. The surgery will be pretty much putting a cork in the ductus :)
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