Pacemakers, Now for Dogs

An article in this week's Business Week discusses how veterinarians are using pacemakers made for humans—for dogs. Despite my misleading headline, the first dog pacemaker surgery took place in 1967, so implanting these devices in dogs isn't exactly new. But it has become a whole lot more common, and hundreds of pets now receive lifesaving pacemakers every year.

According to the story, "The medical devices—about the size of a quarter—are often implanted to speed up a slow heart rate in dogs brought on by disorders such as heart block and sick sinus syndrome that, if left untreated, drastically shortens their lives."

"The procedure is similar to the one done in humans. Under anesthesia, pacemaker wires are threaded through a dog's jugular vein to the correct place in the heart. A small incision, made in the back of the neck, then allows for insertion of the pacemaker under the skin and connection to the wires."

Most pacemaker patients are older dogs (around 6 to 10 years of age), and the surgery isn't exactly cheap: It costs from $3,000 to $4,000.

I'd suggest reading the article if you're interested, because there's a whole lot more information in there.