Sigh, sigh, and more sighs.

Mr. Bentley Boy has been coughing and gagging for a while now. I took him to the vet way before Christmas and was told he had some infection in his trachea. I was given 2 weeks worth of antibiotics for him and sent home.

My husband and I gave our little fella' the damn pills and nothing changed.

I took both the dogs in on Friday to have their teeth cleaned, and told the doctor to please X-ray Bentley's throat. She did. The first X-ray determined that his heart murmer has worsened, and so they did another which was more extensive than just looking at his throat area. The results are disturbing. Bentley has mitral-valve problems and his little heart is starting to show more congestion; which makes my big heart very sore once again.

I know this is crazy, but when they told me his mitral-valve is failing to work properly, all I could think of was my dear grandmother who suffered and eventually died from mitral-valve failure. I am sad on different levels.

We will be keeping Bentley on a maintenance heart pill of sorts for the rest of his little life. So far, the coughing has decreased since he started this course of pills. He still jumps around like a puppy and always demands center stage; so I know he is not suffering at this point. He is in fact, quite a happy little guy; though his heart problems are at a category 4, which is supposedly not such a happy level for them to be.

The cool thing is, he doesn't know his heart is sick; unlike my grandmother who did know.

The photo shows him all fluffed out after being groomed. They made him look like a powder puff. He actually only weighs about 9lbs. He is our Super Bentley; and that nickname, one of many, can be summed up in another story on another day.