Enlarged heart problem

Pinky

Pinky

New Member
I rescued Bear about 3 years ago, she's an American Cocker Spaniel and had heaps of skin issues/allergies which she still suffers from every now and then. She is estimated to be 6-7 years old now and weighs about 26 pounds. This week, she had breathing difficulties and was restless the entire night and crying/heavier than usual panting. I took her to the vet who did a chest X-ray and ran a bloodtest. Her heart is enlarged (13.5cm, normal size should be 10) and the vet said she has fluid in her lungs. Her bloodtest was clear of heartworm, so the heart problem is likely congenital. The vet prescribed some white tablets (diuretics to remove fluid from the lungs), liquid Prilium for the heart and told me to start her on Heartgard to reduce the risk of any secondary heart illness. In general, she has not started coughing, still loves her food and gets excited over fruits, she snores quite often at night, and she was never keen on walking much. Probably due to her heart problem.

Her next check up is in a month, and I am praying she will respond well to the meds. Unfortunately, we don't have an animal cardiologist in my country yet. I've been reading so much on the internet and the whole "6 months to 24 months" prognosis for illness like congestive heart failure is freaking me out. I would appreciate if anybody could share their experience or encouraging stories of their dogs with heart issues.

Sorry for the long post!
 
Hi and welcome! My very first cocker had CHF also. He lived I think about 7 years on his meds, hiking with me and taking walks to the end.
He was on Vasotech The whole time, that was over 25 years ago and so much more has been learned since then. My boy didn't die of heart trouble, he passed away from liver failure due to his meds. Good luck with your little girl.
 
Sorry you don't have a cardiologist available. My cocker spaniel's cardiologist did a doppler, EKG, and chest x-ray. I think the doppler gave most of the information. They were able to diagnose a failing mitral valve and it's severity. Gabby did well until one of the tendons tore loose.

I think your vet is doing well treating Bear based on her symptoms. I wouldn't try to put a time frame on her illness. Good luck to you and bear. I made a journal for Gabby's heart failure if you're interested.
 
Thank you so much for your responses, and for sharing your journal for Gabby. It is such an encouragement knowing of others who have similar experience with their beloved pets. I will ask the vet to do an ultrasound when I take Bear for her next check up. Just to cover all bases.

I am also thinking of changing her diet to something home cooked to reduce her salt intake. She's currently on Addiction's Salmon Bleu, they did not state the level of sodium but I can sort of smell that its pretty salty.
 
I did some checking on low sodium dog foods. The highest in sodium are the typical grocery store products (i.e. Purina). Specialty brands like your Salmon bleu should contain half as much salt. "Senior" products have even less:
  • Grocery store moist - 2,845 mg/day
  • Grocery store dry - 1,144
  • Specialty dry - 655
  • Geriatric dry - 438
  • Renal moist - 468
  • Cardiac dry - 152 (Hill's Prescription Diet Canine h/d)
You see the moist dog food contains a lot more sodium. I'm also including a list of nutrients for dogs with heart disease. They list taurine and carnitine which I'm not familiar with: http://mycockerspaniel.com/images/docs/cardiac_diet.png
 
Manuel thank you, I really appreciate your kind help here :)

By the way, is there anything I can do to help Bear breathe better when she experience difficulties e.g. heavy breathing while her rib cage moves really fast and she will cry out a little as she finds a comfortable position ? For now, it happens maybe once a day and usually when she gets too excited or decides to dash towards me when I get home.
 
I know that with my little guy, when he got like that, or, when his cough sounded especially "wet" I would take him in and my Vet would give him a shot of lasex. I did forget to mention above that he was on lasex along with Vasotech.
 
I would take him in too. Gabby never cried. He didn't seem to be in pain.
 
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