Colorado Parks and Wildlife K9 receives life-saving heart treatment from CSU vet hospital

Kelly Lyell, Fort Collins Coloradoan
·4 min read
Cash, a K9 officer with Colorado Parks and Wildlife, is shown with his handler, district wildlife manager Brock McArdle. Cash, a 7-year-old black labrador retriever, was given a clean bill of health earlier this month following treatment for a heart ailment through Colorado State University's veterinary teaching hospital in Fort Collins.
Cash, a K9 officer with Colorado Parks and Wildlife, is shown with his handler, district wildlife manager Brock McArdle. Cash, a 7-year-old black labrador retriever, was given a clean bill of health earlier this month following treatment for a heart ailment through Colorado State University's veterinary teaching hospital in Fort Collins.

Cash, a black Labrador retriever, has been at the side of Colorado Parks and Wildlife officer Brock McArdle for nearly seven years, sniffing out injured or dead elk, deer, mountain lions and other animals or signs of their presence as well as articles of evidence to help solve cases of illegal poaching.

Cash, who treats “every new person he meets as a new friend,” also plays a big role in CPW’s social media and outreach education programs through his friendly presence, especially with children, McArdle said.

The 7-year-old K9 officer has a huge heart, McArdle said.

Too large, it turns out.

A wildlife veterinarian with CPW, performing a routine annual examination, detected a heart murmur in Cash about 18 months ago, McArdle said.

At the vet's recommendation, McArdle took the 65-pound dog to a specialist at Colorado State University’s Veterinary Teaching Hospital for further evaluation. A resident veterinarian there, Dr. Bruna Del Nero, conducted an ultrasound and other tests that led to diagnosing Cash with an enlarged heart caused by dilated cardiomyopathy, which causes the heart’s muscles to weaken and can be fatal if left untreated.

Dr. Del Nero recommended dietary changes, prescribed medication and, earlier this month, gave Cash a clean bill of health following a follow-up examination and tests that revealed normal heart function.

“We caught it early enough to where he exhibited no outward symptoms that I noticed,” McArdle said Wednesday. “He was never lethargic or breathing funny or anything like that. We caught it early enough, before his heart started giving out. I guess that’s a good reason to take your pets in for those annual checkups.”

Dr. Bruna Del Nero, left, a resident with Colorado State University's veterinary teaching hospital, and Colorado Parks and Wildlife officer Brock McArdle pose with Cash, a K9 officer with CPW who was successfully treated at CSU for a heart ailment.
Dr. Bruna Del Nero, left, a resident with Colorado State University's veterinary teaching hospital, and Colorado Parks and Wildlife officer Brock McArdle pose with Cash, a K9 officer with CPW who was successfully treated at CSU for a heart ailment.

Cash isn’t just a K9 Officer with CPW. He’s also the McArdle family’s pet, living full-time with the wildlife manager for the Red Feather District and his wife and children at their home in Livermore.

“Pretty much wherever I’m at, he’s with me,” McArdle said. “He takes vacations with us and everything else.”

Cash is one of three K9 officers with CPW, spokesperson Bridget O’Rourke said. The dogs help officers find evidence in poaching cases, assist with bear releases to help relocate them away from populated areas and sniff out endangered species like boreal toads and black-footed ferrets. The agency's other two K9 officers are “shepherd-type dogs,” McArdle said, unsure of the specific breed(s) of each.

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CPW canines helped collect evidence in a 2-year-old poaching case involving the illegal killing of a moose that was recently resolved with a man in Kansas pleading guilty to multiple charges, officials with the agency officials said. Cash was not involved in that case, McArdle said.

McArdle got Cash when the dog was about a year old. The black lab is certified to detect nine different wildlife species, including elk, deer, moose, mountain lions and pronghorns, he said.

“He’s trained to sniff out any feces or parts of any animal, including carcasses, hides, shed antlers or blood,” McArdle said. “He’s also trained on article searches – anything outside the environment that has human smell on it, like a handgun or knife at a crime scene or shell casings along the side of a road.”

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Although he’s trained to track humans, too, McArdle uses Cash’s tracking abilities to identify routes people suspected of illegal hunting might have taken from their vehicles to a suspected kill site, where the dog can then sniff out potential evidence that might remain.

“He searches vehicles, too, for hidden evidence like blood or animal hair,” McArdle said. “He’s like a drug-sniffing dog, except he’s sniffing for wildlife.”

CPW’s K9 program does not receive any state funding through taxes or license fees, O’Rourke wrote in a news release. The program relies entirely on the generosity of donors. CPW is hosting a 24-hour “Day of Giving” fundraiser Thursday, July 27, to raise funds to support its programs and projects while increasing awareness of how donors can support the agency.

Reporter Kelly Lyell covers education, breaking news, some sports and other topics of interest for the Coloradoan. Contact him at kellylyell@coloradoan.com, twitter.com/KellyLyell or facebook.com/KellyLyell.news. 

This article originally appeared on Fort Collins Coloradoan: CPW K9 gets life-saving heart treatment at CSU veterinary hospital