Hello all,
has anyone had a dog diagnosed with CHF/chronic valvular disease? My
own little five pounds of perfect has been diagnosed as of last week
and is now on four meds, including enalapril, aldactone, pimobendan,
and of course, the ever popular lasix. The heart specialist says she
may have a year to a year and a half. It's heart breaking and surreal
all at once. I have seen her echo and her heart valve problem but at
the same time I take her out and she loves, loves, loves to run and
jump and leap around like her heart is fine.On the meds she has
virtually no cough at all, ever, (unless her archenemy appears in the
yard and she gets on rant and gulps too much water in the middle of
her rant after drying out her throat barking) and it makes me wonder
if anyone else has had experience with this that maybe they could
share with me?
Thanks in advance.

Mr_Markham wrote:
Hello all,
has anyone had a dog diagnosed with CHF/chronic valvular disease? My
own little five pounds of perfect has been diagnosed as of last week
and is now on four meds, including enalapril, aldactone, pimobendan,
and of course, the ever popular lasix. The heart specialist says she
may have a year to a year and a half. It's heart breaking and surreal
all at once. I have seen her echo and her heart valve problem but at
the same time I take her out and she loves, loves, loves to run and
jump and leap around like her heart is fine.On the meds she has
virtually no cough at all, ever, (unless her archenemy appears in the
yard and she gets on rant and gulps too much water in the middle of
her rant after drying out her throat barking) and it makes me wonder
if anyone else has had experience with this that maybe they could
share with me?
Thanks in advance.

Sorry to hear about the diagnosis. You didn't say how old your
dog is.

I've had 3 chihuahuas with congestive heart failure, heart
murmurs and enlarged hearts. All lived for several years after
the diagnosis, to reasonable ages for their breed. Tika was 13
at diagnosis and lived to 16; her only treatment was lasix.
Gordo was 9 or 10 and lived to 14; he took lasix, benazepril and
spironolactone. Chile was 14 and is now nearly 17; she takes
lasix and started on pimobendan, which was approved in the US
only recently.

Yes, there is no cure, and the treatments have their own side
effects. But they do help prolong the life of the dogs with a
reasonably good quality. Chile is now a doddering old lady and
sleeps most of the time, but she still enjoys her ice cream and
sitting on my lap getting full-body massages.

My vets never gave me a prognosis, so I can't say whether your
vet is underestimating or being realistic based on the condition
of your dog's heart. The advice I would give you is to just
enjoy her to the ultimate in the time that she has remaining. It
sounds like she's giving you that message, too. (Dogs don't live
long enough, anyhow.) And when she does slow down, be there with
a lap and a ready hand for dishing out the pets.

Hope this helps -

FurPaw

--
"Every gun that is made, every warship launched,
every rocket fired, signifies in the final sense
a theft from those who hunger and are not fed,
those who are cold and are not clothed."
- Dwight D. Eisenhower

To reply, unleash the dogs.

On Apr 5, 10:05*am, FurPaw wrote:
Mr_Markham wrote:
Hello all,
has anyone had a dog diagnosed with CHF/chronic valvular disease? My
own little five pounds of perfect has been diagnosed as of last week
and is now on four meds, including enalapril, aldactone, pimobendan,
and of course, the ever popular lasix. The heart specialist says she
may have a year to a year and a half. It's heart breaking and surreal
all at once. I have seen her echo and her heart valve problem but at
the same time I take her out and she loves, loves, loves to run and
jump and leap around like her heart is fine.On the meds she has
virtually no cough at all, ever, (unless her archenemy appears in the
yard and she gets on rant and gulps too much water in the middle of
her rant after drying out her throat barking) and it makes me wonder
if anyone else has had experience with this that maybe they could
share with me?
Thanks in advance.

Sorry to hear about the diagnosis. *You didn't say how old your
dog is.

I've had 3 chihuahuas with congestive heart failure, heart
murmurs and enlarged hearts. *All lived for several years after
the diagnosis, to reasonable ages for their breed. *Tika was 13
at diagnosis and lived to 16; her only treatment was lasix.
Gordo was 9 or 10 and lived to 14; he took lasix, benazepril and
spironolactone. *Chile was 14 and is now nearly 17; she takes
lasix and started on pimobendan, which was approved in the US
only recently.

Yes, there is no cure, and the treatments have their own side
effects. *But they do help prolong the life of the dogs with a
reasonably good quality. *Chile is now a doddering old lady and
sleeps most of the time, but she still enjoys her ice cream and
sitting on my lap getting full-body massages.

My vets never gave me a prognosis, so I can't say whether your
vet is underestimating or being realistic based on the condition
of your dog's heart. *The advice I would give you is to just
enjoy her to the ultimate in the time that she has remaining. *It
sounds like she's giving you that message, too. (Dogs don't live
long enough, anyhow.) *And when she does slow down, be there with
a lap and a ready hand for dishing out the pets.

Hope this helps -

FurPaw

--
"Every gun that is made, every warship launched,
every rocket fired, signifies in the final sense
a theft from those who hunger and are not fed,
those who are cold and are not clothed."
* * * * * * * * * * * * * - Dwight D. Eisenhower

To reply, unleash the dogs.- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

Hi Furpaw, thanks for the answer. My dog is 9 years old and she's the
coolest dog I ever met. :-) It's nice to see your stuff about your own
dogs, thanks. I appreciate reading it.

In article
,
Mr_Markham wrote:

Hello all,
has anyone had a dog diagnosed with CHF/chronic valvular disease? My
own little five pounds of perfect has been diagnosed as of last week
and is now on four meds, including enalapril, aldactone, pimobendan,
and of course, the ever popular lasix. The heart specialist says she
may have a year to a year and a half. It's heart breaking and surreal
all at once. I have seen her echo and her heart valve problem but at
the same time I take her out and she loves, loves, loves to run and
jump and leap around like her heart is fine.On the meds she has
virtually no cough at all, ever, (unless her archenemy appears in the
yard and she gets on rant and gulps too much water in the middle of
her rant after drying out her throat barking) and it makes me wonder
if anyone else has had experience with this that maybe they could
share with me?

The first dog I ever lived with, Jasmine, was diagnosed with CHF in
February 1992 and given at most a year to live. She was on a lot of
medications, like your dog. She was on the special low-sodium food, and
we cut out all kinds of dog treats which are high in sodium; what she
got instead were baby carrots (which she loved) and alfalfa sprouts. In
April 1993 she wasn't doing very well and we had family portraits taken,
just in case; finally, at one point, my partner said "What the hell" and
gave her a piece of prime rib soaked in au jus. She perked up after
that (not because of that!) and after another three years, the vets told
us "whatever you're doing, keep doing it." So once in a *great* while
she got a very small amount something she wasn't supposed to have.

Every time the doctor gave us a prognosis she proved them wrong, and it
wasn't until 1997 that her quality of life deterioriated to the point
where we had to let her go.

I guess if I were offering advice, it would be to enjoy the present
moment to the greatest extent possible.
--
Kevin Michael Vail* * | I would rather have a mind opened by wonder
* * * | than one closed by belief. * -- Gerry Spence

On Apr 5, 9:04*pm, Kevin Michael Vail wrote:
In article
,

*Mr_Markham wrote:
Hello all,
has anyone had a dog diagnosed with CHF/chronic valvular disease? My
own little five pounds of perfect has been diagnosed as of last week
and is now on four meds, including enalapril, aldactone, pimobendan,
and of course, the ever popular lasix. The heart specialist says she
may have a year to a year and a half. It's heart breaking and surreal
all at once. I have seen her echo and her heart valve problem but at
the same time I take her out and she loves, loves, loves to run and
jump and leap around like her heart is fine.On the meds she has
virtually no cough at all, ever, (unless her archenemy appears in the
yard and she gets on rant and gulps too much water in the middle of
her rant after drying out her throat barking) and it makes me wonder
if anyone else has had experience with this that maybe they could
share with me?

The first dog I ever lived with, Jasmine, was diagnosed with CHF in
February 1992 and given at most a year to live. *She was on a lot of
medications, like your dog. *She was on the special low-sodium food, and
we cut out all kinds of dog treats which are high in sodium; what she
got instead were baby carrots (which she loved) and alfalfa sprouts. *In
April 1993 she wasn't doing very well and we had family portraits taken,
just in case; finally, at one point, my partner said "What the hell" and
gave her a piece of prime rib soaked in au jus. *She perked up after
that (not because of that!) and after another three years, the vets told
us "whatever you're doing, keep doing it." *So once in a *great* while
she got a very small amount something she wasn't supposed to have.

Every time the doctor gave us a prognosis she proved them wrong, and it
wasn't until 1997 that her quality of life deterioriated to the point
where we had to let her go.

I guess if I were offering advice, it would be to enjoy the present
moment to the greatest extent possible.
--
Kevin Michael Vail* * | I would rather have a mind opened by wonder
* * * | than one closed by belief. * -- Gerry Spence

Aww, that's wonderful and lovely to read. I do enjoy her and she loves
her life as it is, day to day. I guess that's the only silver lining
to these things, you just love and value your dog even more than you
already did. I'm glad you had your dog for as long as you did. Thanks.

In article
,
Mr_Markham wrote:

On Apr 5, 9:04*pm, Kevin Michael Vail wrote:
In article
,

[]

I guess if I were offering advice, it would be to enjoy the present
moment to the greatest extent possible.

Aww, that's wonderful and lovely to read. I do enjoy her and she loves
her life as it is, day to day. I guess that's the only silver lining
to these things, you just love and value your dog even more than you
already did. I'm glad you had your dog for as long as you did. Thanks.

You're welcome. I have a big soft spot in my heart for Maltese, because
my last dog was a Maltese with all kinds of agression problems...he was
the sweetest dog in the world with the people he loved, but that was a
very short list (I don't think it went into double digits). If you are
interested you can google for posts by me with "Toby" in them. He died
of lung cancer in 2003 when he was only four, and I still miss him.

What is your dog's name, BTW? She sounds adorable.
--
Bright eyes/burning like fire, * * * * * | Kevin Michael Vail
Bright eyes/how can you close and fail?* |
How can the light that shone so brightly | . . . . . . . . . .
Suddenly shine so pale?/Bright eyes* * * |* . . . . . . . . .

I have a bitch that has had a heart murmur as long as I have had her,
since he was a year old. I heard the first heart cough and took her to
the vet. He told me it wasn't anything to worry about at that time.
Several years passed by. My vet encouraged me to breed her as she was a
fine specimen of a rare dog. I asked about the heart murmur and he said
we would keep a close monitor on that. She had prenatal check ups and
all was well. She had to have a c section as she had been hit by a car
prior me getting her and it did damage her pelvis. She sailed through
the pregnancy without any problems as she did with the c section. She is
quite a few years older, will never be bred again, and is starting to
show some mild signs of arthritis, otherwise just fine. Here is the
unusual part, her heart murmur has all but disappeared, no meds. None of
the pups had a hear murmur as adults. Delta

(DELTA ATM) said in
rec.pets.dogs.behavior:

My vet encouraged me to breed her as she was a
fine specimen of a rare dog.

What was her breed? Not an Aussie (going by your address), I
guess. Did the dog's breeder concur with your vet's opinion?

I've never seen a vet actively encourage a breeding, let alone
to a bitch with a polygenic trait.

--
--Matt. Rocky's a Dog.

In article ,
Rocky wrote:
I've never seen a vet actively encourage a breeding, let alone
to a bitch with a polygenic trait.

When I scheduled Emmett to be neutered my vet asked if I
really wanted to do that, despite the fact that he was
obviously out of standard and had poor conformation. I love
my dog and I love my vet, but seriously ...
--
Melinda Shore - Software longa, hardware brevis -

Prouder than ever to be a member of the reality-based community

(Melinda Shore) said in
rec.pets.dogs.behavior:

I've never seen a vet actively encourage a breeding, let
alone to a bitch with a polygenic trait.

When I scheduled Emmett to be neutered my vet asked if I
really wanted to do that, despite the fact that he was
obviously out of standard and had poor conformation. I
love my dog and I love my vet, but seriously ...

I recall you mentioning that before. I don't get it.

Rocky's vets aren't at all politic - they handle the issues at
hand with medical opinion only, which is what I want. My
healthy dogs go to a different vet. He, I like talking with
about general dog stuff.

--
--Matt. Rocky's a Dog.