E-Vet Clinic - Dog Health Care

Here’s an update on the Lhasa with the Congestive Heart Failure - He is doing Great!

The one shot of Lasix improved his condition immensely. No fluid in his lungs, his attitude was much improved actually fiestier than before. So he was given one more shot of Lasix and then we have him taking oral Lasix for the next two weeks along with a medication called Enacard. At that time we will be able to reevaluate and choose a course of action from there.

Yesterday a dog came into the clinic coughing and gasping for breath. The 9 year old Lhasa Apso had no history of being around other dogs and had not been in a kennel or dog class.

Physical exam revealed a temperature of 101.5 (normal) and a bluish tint to the mucus membranes. Listening to the lungs determined that they were full of fluid and an extremely loud heart murmur heard on the first beat (mitral valve insufficiency). Questioning the owner he said yes the dog has had a heart murmur since it was a puppy. The veterinarian that first heard it said it was so bad that he did not expect the dog to live for longer than two years. Well here he was 9 years later in my office with his heart finally failing in congestive heart failure.

I would have liked to taken radiographs however I could not sedate the dog and I did not want to stress the dog without sedation in either case the dog may die on the xray table. So we opted to take care of the fluid in the lungs by using furosemide (Lasix). Ideally this dog should be put in ICU with Oxygen and Lasix and digoxin or other heart contractility drug given every couple of hours until the breathing improved and the fluid reduced in the lungs, enough so that an EKG and radiographs or preferably an echocardiogram (ultrasound) can be used to further diagnose the extent of the heart condition. The owner of this dog was not willing to put the expense into his pet, looking at it as, he has had a great 9 years 7 more than expected and he did not want to put the dog through any heroics only to try and extend his life a few more months. He opted to try and see if the one lasix shot was going to be enough to get him through the night and he would bring him back in the morning for another shot and for oral medication to try and see if the minimum would allow him to continue his dogs life.

I did not go into the clinic today but I will find out tomorrow morning what happened with this little 9 year old dog with congestive heart failure.

So what happens how did this dog all of a sudden end up in this condition. In Mitral Valve insufficiency the valve between the top portion of the heart and the bottom part of the heart does not close all the way. So when the heart pumps it is unable to pump with enough force to get the blood out to the body, much of the blood escapes back into the upper chambers of the heart. What this does in the long run is that the heart has to work twice as hard to do its job, and in some cases 3 to 4 times as hard. This obviously wears the heart out to the point where it can no longer function appropriately. When the heart can not perform correctly blood begins to pool throughout the body. When blood pools the actual fluid can separate out and pools in different areas of the body in this case in the lungs making it impossible for the dog to breath and also increases the load on the heart even more!

Medications can be given to help with congestive heart failure or better yet improve the heart before congestive heart failure occurs by reducing the amount of fluid in the blood and others can be given to help the heart muscle improve its ability to contract. Other treatment or rather lifestyle changes can include adding Co-Q10 to the diet as well as adding other antioxidants to help the heart and the overall health and immune system of the dog.

I’ll post tomorrow good or bad on what happened with the Lhasa, stay tuned.

More Information on Congestive Heart Failure in Dogs…

When a Big Heart Is a Bad Thing

Congestive Heart Failure Common in Older Small Breeds Such as the …

Heart Failure in Dogs