Elderly dog with heart failure.

beveragelady

My older lady, a collie mix, (13 and a half)* was diagnosed this week with the early signs of heart failure. She's on a diuretic for it for now, and we're going back to the vet next week to see if she needs more intervention.

• Are there any particular questions I should ask?
• Are there any food plans or supplements anybody can recommend?

*Eyes and ears starting to go. Back legs not great. A bit of arthritis. Eating very well. Little bit overweight but not much. Still loves her walk and able for about 40 mins plus two short walks every day. I brought her to the vet because she was coughing and wheezing a bit so the diagnosis wasn't unexpected.

cocker5

beveragelady wrote: »

My older lady, a collie mix, (13 and a half)* was diagnosed this week with the early signs of heart failure. She's on a diuretic for it for now, and we're going back to the vet next week to see if she needs more intervention.

• Are there any particular questions I should ask?
• Are there any food plans or supplements anybody can recommend?

*Eyes and ears starting to go. Back legs not great. A bit of arthritis. Eating very well. Little bit overweight but not much. Still loves her walk and able for about 40 mins plus two short walks every day. I brought her to the vet because she was coughing and wheezing a bit so the diagnosis wasn't unexpected.

Sorry to hear about your dog OP .. unfortunately coughing can be a sign of heart issues..

She sounds happy enough given her age apart from the heart issues.. I would ask is it Dilated cardiomyopathy.. and if so what grade .. it’s grade 1-5 .. 5 being the worst.

For general heart care you could add some fish oils to her diet , will help with joints too and also CQ10 enzymes ..

Do you have pet insurance? Personally I’d bring her to a cardiologist for proper diagnosis.. as vets can sometimes grade heart issues differently than a cardiologist. Which happened in my guys case .. vet said grade 3 and medication / cardiologist said grade 2 and supplements only.. I went with the cardiologist and lucky his heart never deteriorated .. but that’s just my story

For any major issue I’d see a specialist in that area .. most vets are like GPs after all, a not specialists ..

Best of luck - it’s a hard place to be .. worrying I know .. I hope the medicine helps x

tk123

beveragelady wrote: »

[*]Are there any food plans or supplements anybody can recommend?

Sorry to hear about your dog op

With my friend's setter - when he had heart failure he went completely off his food and it was a constant battle trying to get him to eat and take his medicine. If she's eating I wouldn't change anything - I regret changing Lucy's food when she was sick and eating happily because she went off it for a while and it was extremely difficult and heart breaking trying to get her to eat again:(

Do you need to know how bad it is/get a referral? Again I'm not so sure - I found that everything I read was worst case/crappy outlook and it didn't help matters - don't go joining FB groups as it'll break your heart.:( Sometimes it can be better to just trust your vet and go with their advice. Like you know her best, you know how much you want to put her through so use your judgement - you're the specialist on your pet after all. (It was a routine blood pressure check that made my mind up about Lucy's treatment).

What I can recommend lol - a dog stroller. I have one for Bailey and he LOVES it and means we can get out for walks with him resting some of the way... when i say resting he's looking at everything and taking it all in and trying to get people to come and say hello to him lol :pac: Your fleeting embarrassment goes out the window the moment they relax in it the first time watching the world go by lol.

beveragelady

cocker5 wrote: »

Sorry to hear about your dog OP .. unfortunately coughing can be a sign of heart issues..

She sounds happy enough given her age apart from the heart issues.. I would ask is it Dilated cardiomyopathy.. and if so what grade .. it’s grade 1-5 .. 5 being the worst.

For general heart care you could add some fish oils to her diet , will help with joints too and also CQ10 enzymes ..

Do you have pet insurance? Personally I’d bring her to a cardiologist for proper diagnosis.. as vets can sometimes grade heart issues differently than a cardiologist. Which happened in my guys case .. vet said grade 3 and medication / cardiologist said grade 2 and supplements only.. I went with the cardiologist and lucky his heart never deteriorated .. but that’s just my story

For any major issue I’d see a specialist in that area .. most vets are like GPs after all, a not specialists ..

Best of luck - it’s a hard place to be .. worrying I know .. I hope the medicine helps x

Thanks for your suggestions. I don't know what grade it is, or even if it's dilated cardiomyopathy. He might have told me but it didn't sink in. Even though I was expecting to hear it was her heart it was still a shock somehow!

I don't have pet insurance but I won't be making decisions based on expense or inconvenience! I'll do whatever can be done for her as long as it doesn't cause her distress or even discomfort. I'll ask about a cardiologist referral when I go back to the vet, thanks for mentioning that. I don't think I would have thought of that!

beveragelady

tk123 wrote: »

Sorry to hear about your dog op

With my friend's setter - when he had heart failure he went completely off his food and it was a constant battle trying to get him to eat and take his medicine. If she's eating I wouldn't change anything - I regret changing Lucy's food when she was sick and eating happily because she went off it for a while and it was extremely difficult and heart breaking trying to get her to eat again:(

Do you need to know how bad it is/get a referral? Again I'm not so sure - I found that everything I read was worst case/crappy outlook and it didn't help matters - don't go joining FB groups as it'll break your heart.:( Sometimes it can be better to just trust your vet and go with their advice. Like you know her best, you know how much you want to put her through so use your judgement - you're the specialist on your pet after all. (It was a routine blood pressure check that made my mind up about Lucy's treatment).

What I can recommend lol - a dog stroller. I have one for Bailey and he LOVES it and means we can get out for walks with him resting some of the way... when i say resting he's looking at everything and taking it all in and trying to get people to come and say hello to him lol :pac: Your fleeting embarrassment goes out the window the moment they relax in it the first time watching the world go by lol.

I would have no problem throwing my dignity away and walking her in a stroller. Recommendations welcome, please! I'm already considered wildly eccentric by the locals, it's not like I have a reputation to damage!

My general outlook is as follows: It is my responsibility to see that she has as many good days as possible. I have to weigh what I know about her against what I can gather about her illness to achieve this.

I'm very wary of falling into the trap of putting her through unpleasant experiences to prolong her life just because I like having her around. She's a great girl, definitely the smartest animal I have ever known. Strangers have often remarked on her direct and penetrating gaze. She understands an awful lot of what is happening around her and she has often amazed me by being several steps ahead of me because she has noticed a minor change to the routine. I sort of think this makes it even more important that she is allowed to enjoy her days. I won't ever be able to 'trick' her into thinking everything is fine if it isn't.

cocker5

beveragelady wrote: »

Thanks for your suggestions. I don't know what grade it is, or even if it's dilated cardiomyopathy. He might have told me but it didn't sink in. Even though I was expecting to hear it was her heart it was still a shock somehow!

I don't have pet insurance but I won't be making decisions based on expense or inconvenience! I'll do whatever can be done for her as long as it doesn't cause her distress or even discomfort. I'll ask about a cardiologist referral when I go back to the vet, thanks for mentioning that. I don't think I would have thought of that!

It’s very hard to take anything in when ur told something about your dog health - everything goes blank!

We went to a cardiologist in nut grove in Dublin - he did an ECG and another test .. sorry can’t remember what it was but wasn’t invasive etc and I think it cost around €300 .. but I found him excellent.

Either way the most important thing is you now know that there is something going on and you can try and treat it .. while it’s very upsetting it’s better to know (IMO) so you can seek the best treatment for your girl x

Either way I’d definitely look into some supplements to support her heart x

florawest

Our almost 14 ( May) year old Labrador has had a lot of issues, her back legs started to go from under her and she was non stop panting. The vet thought she might have a tumour, they did a scan and blood tests. Turned out to be an enlarged heart so she is on a half a heart tablet ( nelio) daily, her circulation ain't great so 1 circulatory tablet twice ( vitofyllin) daily, steroid in the morning, painkiller ( gabapentin human one) in the evening.
Plus she is on special prescribed mobility dog food.

The vet tried few tablets before settling on the steroid as that helped her back legs the best.

Good luck to you and your dog, hope you get something to help with the doggie's heart and joints.

tk123

beveragelady wrote: »

I would have no problem throwing my dignity away and walking her in a stroller. Recommendations welcome, please! I'm already considered wildly eccentric by the locals, it's not like I have a reputation to damage!

All I've had is good comments lol!! There's TONS of them and depending on the size/weight of the dog the price goes up. I have the Innopet Hercules because it suits my needs best and has great reviews. Zooplus are doing them now too. Honestly I never thought I'd be using it daily - it was more for longer weekend walks which stopped due to covid restrictions.. Now I use it every day so I can take him to where he likes to walk and we both get some exercise without me worrying about him overdoing it. It was my friend talking about getting one for when her dog was old.. I lost my 6 year old just over a year ago and Bailey's not at the stage where he's crippled and hobbling along but we never know what's around the corner so I just decided what am I waiting for and got it. If you join the CAM pages on Facebook - one is an equipment review group and you can see reviews of all of them. https://www.facebook.com/groups/540364159637089

beveragelady

tk123 wrote: »

All I've had is good comments lol!! There's TONS of them and depending on the size/weight of the dog the price goes up. I have the Innopet Hercules because it suits my needs best and has great reviews. Zooplus are doing them now too. Honestly I never thought I'd be using it daily - it was more for longer weekend walks which stopped due to covid restrictions.. Now I use it every day so I can take him to where he likes to walk and we both get some exercise without me worrying about him overdoing it. It was my friend talking about getting one for when her dog was old.. I lost my 6 year old just over a year ago and Bailey's not at the stage where he's crippled and hobbling along but we never know what's around the corner so I just decided what am I waiting for and got it. If you join the CAM pages on Facebook - one is an equipment review group and you can see reviews of all of them. https://www.facebook.com/groups/540364159637089

I was left unsupervised and I have poor impulse control so I just bought the Innopet Hercules. It'll be rice and dandelions for dinner for the next few weeks...

tk123

beveragelady wrote: »

I was left unsupervised and I have poor impulse control so I just bought the Innopet Hercules. It'll be rice and dandelions for dinner for the next few weeks...

:pac: :pac: :pac:

alroley

One of my dogs had congestive heart failure for 2 years before she died at 15 years old. I didn't really know much about it back then.

My other dog now has bad heart issues and he is on frusimide and vetmedin. I brought him to a cardiologist and he got an echocardiogram which showed exactly what was wrong. I feed him a low sodium diet - mix of salmon, chicken, lean mince with various veg, salmon oil and also some of his regular dry dog food.

I monitor his resting breaths to make sure they are under 26 per minute. Higher indicates fluid.

coathanger

alroley wrote: »

One of my dogs had congestive heart failure for 2 years before she died at 15 years old. I didn't really know much about it back then.

My other dog now has bad heart issues and he is on frusimide and vetmedin. I brought him to a cardiologist and he got an echocardiogram which showed exactly what was wrong. I feed him a low sodium diet - mix of salmon, chicken, lean mince with various veg, salmon oil and also some of his regular dry dog food.

I monitor his resting breaths to make sure they are under 26 per minute. Higher indicates fluid.

Probably a silly question! But how do you monitor his resting breaths ? My girl has just been diagnosed & I’m in complete shock if I’m honest & I want to gain as much knowledge as possible as my vet is very hard to pin down unfortunately. Thanks

alroley

coathanger wrote: »

Probably a silly question! But how do you monitor his resting breaths ? My girl has just been diagnosed & I’m in complete shock if I’m honest & I want to gain as much knowledge as possible as my vet is very hard to pin down unfortunately. Thanks

Wait until your dog has been resting for a while and you count his breaths (each time his chest rises) in a minute. I use the app cardalis to do it. You just tap your screen each time they take a breath and it does all the counting for you. It also keeps a record of each time so you can see trends and the history.