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Please help!! Not sure what else to do
I have a 14 year old Jack Russell, who besides what I'm about to state is in great health. For the past 2 months she has had a horrible cough. Sounds like she is going to cough up a hair ball but never has. The vet has done numerous tests including xrays and heartworm. She has put her on numerous medicines including steroids, which none have worked. She has stated that her heart is enlarged and the one artery is swollen. Within those 2 months she has gained 4 pounds, without eating anymore than normal. The vet has no idea what else could be causing this. She is still playing and acting normal other than the cough. We have noticed that she wheezes sometimes when walking. I'm going to be calling a different vet tomorrow to get a second opinion. Can anyone help me with this...PLEASE!!!
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#2
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Please help!! Not sure what else to do
On Nov 22, 8:28*pm, aking3028 wrote:
I have a 14 year old Jack Russell, who besides what I'm about to state is in great health. *For the past 2 months she has had a horrible cough.. Sounds like she is going to cough up a hair ball but never has. *The vet has done numerous tests including xrays and heartworm. *She has put her on numerous medicines including steroids, which none have worked. She has stated that her heart is enlarged and the one artery is swollen. Within those 2 months she has gained 4 pounds, without eating anymore than normal. *The vet has no idea what else could be causing this. *She is still playing and acting normal other than the cough. *We have noticed that she wheezes sometimes when walking. *I'm going to be calling a different vet tomorrow to get a second opinion. *Can anyone help me with this...PLEASE!!! -- aking3028 An enlarged heart can cause a fluid buildup in the lungs which can cause a cough. If this is the case the dog needs diuretics. I had a dog with this very problem. Feeding raw beef heart can help too. Long term prognosis is not good though. Buddy died about a year or so later after the cough became pronounced. The vet didn't expect him to live more than 6 months and was very surprised when we came back to him at the one year mark to renew his prescriptions. Raw feeding him. herbal remedies plus adding the vet's meds kept him around way past his expected life span. At first I used dandelion root to treat the fluids then when such a gentle treatment wasn't producing relief we switched him over to something the vet prescribed. Can't recall the name at the moment. This happened a few too many years ago I guess. |
#3
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Please help!! Not sure what else to do
I suggest that you have your sweetie evaluated by another vet. This
sounds very much like congestive heart failure..... although it could be something else. Age alone, though, makes CHF a possibility. Diuretic, possibly a blood pressure medication, possibly digitalis in some form.... can often improve the situation for some period of time. But this may just be a sign of an old body wearing out... {sad sigh}... There are abnormalities of the heart valves that can give the same signs and symptoms, and the heart sounds different to the vet than it does with CHF as the valves open and close. Enlargement of the heart can be caused by several things.... You do have another option than a second opinion from another local vet. Your vet can set up a consult with an internal medicine or cardiology specialist for your dog. This will often be at a major "referal" vet group practice in a major city of the state, or the nearest vet school. That said, some of these high-power specialists travel monthly or on some other schedule to various cities in a state. For instance, eye and dental specialists come to my city on a monthly schedule..... and we have internal medicine specialist (and ortho surgery) available about 75 interstate miles away in the adjacent state; easier/quicker to get to than our vet school.... and an internal med. specialist makes diagnostic visits to a vet clinic about 35 miles from here... where he does EKGs and ultrasound testing if indicated. Jo Wolf Martinez, Georgia, USA |
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