Sunshine, a 9-year-old German shepherd, will now be able to live another five to six years due to the generosity of an elderly woman who bequeathed her pacemaker to a needy dog or cat.

[Click here to see Sunshine's procedure]

Sunshine’s owner, John Wren, of Buford, said he and his wife, Cindy, were walking with Sunshine on Dec. 30, 2001 when they first saw signs that there was a problem with Sunshine’s pacemaker, which was installed three years ago.

“I noticed that the leash got tight and, when I turned around, she was laying on her side and it looked like she was having a seizure,” Wren said.

A veterinarian informed the Wrens that the ventricular lead of Sunshine’s pacemaker had been broken and was causing the problem.

Wren said the lead was replaced at the beginning of the year.

He said during Sunshine’s routine checkup Feb. 21, her pacemaker’s battery was found to be dead.

The family of Dorothea Edwards donated their mother’s pacemaker to the University’s College of Veterinary Medicine in hopes that it would help an animal and in accordance with their mother’s wish, according to the letter written to the college accompanying the pacemaker.

“Ninety percent of dogs who need pacemakers don’t get them because of cost, availability and their location,” said Clay Calvert, a cardiologist at the Department of Small Animal Medicine.

He said it is always a struggle to get pacemakers for dogs, although many humans have them.

“Technicians install between 400 and 500 in humans every year,” Calvert said.

Pacemakers made for dogs cost between $4,000 and $6,000, said Dot Sparer, public relations coordinator for the College of Veterinary Medicine.

“The average pet owner just can’t afford to spend $4,000 to $6,000,” Calvert said.

He said the Wrens were being charged $1,000 for the procedure.

“Sunshine is a relatively young dog who could live five to six more years with the pacemaker,” Calvert said.

“This is an option and a useful option for animals and is very meaningful for the person donating the pacemaker,” Sparer said.

“We put between 10 and 12 pacemakers a year into dogs,” Calvert said.

He said the veterinary school occasionally installs pacemakers in cats and horses, but most patients are dogs.

The University’s veterinary school has been installing pacemakers in dogs for 25 to 30 years, Calvert said.

The pacemaker Sunshine received is state-of-the-art and relatively new, Calvert said.

The Wrens adopted Sunshine after she was recovered from a drug bust when she was 6 months old, Wren said.

“Her previous owner was the second on the FBI’s most wanted list for four months before the arrest,” he said.

Sunshine was awake and doing fine as of press time Sunday afternoon, veterinary school officials said. The Wrens said they would be picking Sunshine up from the clinic today. To find out more about Sunshine, visit (www.jcwren.com/sunshine).