LuvAPuppy

My IG Mousie has total left side heart failure as well and has for, probably four or five years, I can't even remember. Her murmur is stable at grade III/VI. She's on Iggy size Vetmedin twice daily, Enalapril twice daily and Lasix every other day. She has no fluid in her lungs, but she does have tracheal displacement. We still take our mile walk every day although she is becoming more reluctant to go, I attribute that more to the blindness from the cataracts (she's almost 14) instead of her heart. Vetmedin won't be available in a human pharmacy because it's not FDA approved for human use in any country but Japan, but the Lasix might be for a dog Lazer's size...I think the smallest human dose is 20mg tablets. Mousie gets 1/4 of a 12.5 mg tablet every other day.

xray is for things that bounce back light - bones for sure, some foreign bodies: bone, rocks, solid things really. You can see some organs but not great detail usually because the rays are absorbed (sort of). Ultrasound is for things that move like the heart or good for liquid-y things like identifying cysts or abscesses and yes, it's best to already have an idea where to look and what you might be looking for. Then there are the "soft tissue xrays" or "3d xrays" which are the laypersons terms I was taught to try and help non medical persons understand (loosely) CT, MRI and PET imaging.

Short answer - the heart chambers are beating out of rhythm. I'll get really basic cuz I don't know who knows what when it comes to medicine. There are four chambers to the heart, two upper chambers, the atria, contract in unison to push blood in to the two ventricles. The ventricles beat while the atria relax and they force blood to the lungs and body. His ventricles are not getting the correct signals from the nodes (sort of little bundles of nerves) in the heart that pace them: they're beating too fast, almost like spasming, meaning they're not completely full when the push blood out to the body - causing his fatigue - his muscles aren't getting the required blood supply. There are meds that can increase the force of his heart contractions to get more blood circulating. If he were human they'd likely consider a pacemaker or ablation of the malfunctioning part of the node. I don't know if they do those procedures in vet medicine.

I love our Thundershirt, it's a Godsend and I wish it had been invented 10 years ago. My IG is highly storm & noise phobic as well as a stress-puppy out in the world. She automatically gets 0.25mg Melatonin daily with an additional 0.25 when I know it's going to storm plus added Rescue Remedy for trips out and storm days. Those things combined with the Thundershirt will have her sleeping through the worst storm and fireworks. She moves around out in public without her tail plastered to her chest and occasionally you can even tell she has ears! I hope it works as well for you as it does for us

Adult dogs, and I'm sure most of us know this as experienced adult dog adoptors, can frequently have the scrotal sac fill with blood after the surgery. sometimes to the extent it needs to be drained or even have the sac removed. but it's rare for infection to move that fast. And I do think the forced meds and e-collar does kind of sound like, "we'll make up the cost of the free surgery with mandatory upcharges,"

I downloaded and shared it. From the security of my living room I can say that all the clinics it found really do exist, no duds

There's a possibility of Mast cell but it could also be a histiocytoma. They look pretty much exactly alike until you look at the cells under the scope. the mast cells have a lot more purple granules in the cytoplasm. Tuesday will likely be fine unless it's size starts to be an issue for her to get around or something.

Haven't read all the responses. A lot of times it's a clot too. Just like in a person, the couple weeks after a surgery anyone, no matter how healthy they are is at risk of throwing a clot and having it lodge in the brain, lungs or heart. It can't be predicted or prevented.

IG's have much more energy then your big greys. It's one of the many many reasons they're surrendered, during puppyhood they think they can fly and, well, they can't. I walk 13 year old Mousie about a mile every day, that's about all she wants any more. It's no power walk either. She sleeps and begs for french fries the rest of the time now.

I have nothing to add other then having seen it in a dog with chronically long nails so they can't get up on their toes. The nails in the picture are fine. and mostly I added that so I could say Don't Be A Stranger Anymore Aaron

Some dogs don't react well to change either, causing stress. Their illnesses, is this new since she's joined the household? She could be reacting to their physical and/or emotional stress as well. Or she could just be exercising dominance because she can or because she feels she has to if she thinks they're unable to lead the pack. In a dog who does not want to be pack leader, this causes them stress as well. If Snowy is healthy, I'd get a DAP diffuser, some Rescue Remedy and perhaps a Thundershirt and see of any or all make a difference.

I checked my Kroger here last month. They have her Enalapril and her Tramadol but not Vetmedin Our Target doesn't have vet meds, I check periodically because some do. Our Meijer store doesn't either. My vet doesn't authorize mail order pharmacies, they have concerns about the way the meds may be warehoused, shipped and their origins. I'm sure it's also to keep as much $ coming in to the clinic as possible too, it is a business after all with its own bills to pay.

The Vetmedin is a med to make the heart beat stronger. An enlarged heart doesn't work effectively. Mousie is on it, she doesn't have CHF but she has both left chambers of her heart enlarged. The left side is the side that pumps blood to the body so it has to work and work well. Vetmedin is only available for human use in Japan, it's strictly a veterinary med in this country so chances are no pharmacy will carry it.

I have a friend who had a Boxer live to age 12 with DCM! A 12 year old boxer I think is fairly rare AND it wasn't the DCM that killed her, she had Boxer tumors and one ruptured and she started to bleed out. Oh, and an unsolicited plug....OSU treated her DCM.

My 13 year old IG has what amounts to CHF. It was discussed in another thread about the drug Vetmedin, which is a drug used in left sided heart failure to make the heart beat more effectively. Mousie was diagnosed with a heart murmur several years ago, which led to an echocardiogram (heart ultrasound) which revealed her left atrium and left ventricle are enlarged, which is the reason for her to be on Enalapril (best known as a BP med but also used to make the heart work more efficiently), Vetmedin and lasix (a diruetic to flush excess fluid from the body). They tell me every time we go in for anything that her heart and lungs sound great for her condition. It really depends on how far along it is, if the heart is too badly damaged before the condition is detected, the meds can't do much to assist it.

I meant to come back and tell you last night that I appreciated you asking and to apologize to the OP for hijacking the thread, but I do hope it helps her hound! No cardiologist, we don't have one that I know of here in Ft Wayne, we're not That big of a city for being the second largest in the state. The echo was done by a vet who has taken training for it but he's still a general practice vet. His interp was sent to my vet with the recommendation of the meds. I have a copy of the result here somewhere, I'll try and dig it up this weekend, but if I remember correctly, it doesn't have an interp on it, just two stills of the scan and the measurements. THAT's beyond my nursing experience!! All I know is after her tiny dose of lasix she does pee every hour for a couple hours and then she makes it all the way through the night which is only five hours for us. And the way it all came about is the vet that did her dental heard the murmur on the day of her procedure. This is my usual vet practice but not my normal vet, my regular vet didn't do surgeries. She did a CXR, called me, said it was safe to do the anesthesia but she was using more heart friendly meds and recommended the echo. I didn't do it right away, maybe 8 mos to a year later, unfortunately, due to $$ and she seemed fine, no shortness of breath on exertion, good color and the misdiagnosis of murmurs in deep chested breeds. We saw my regular vet for something...routine or tweaked back, and I asked her if SHE heard it, and she said no. I told her the story, she read the record and went out and got the dental vet who walked right in, but the bell of the stethoscope right over the murmur for my regular vet who then agreed it was there and apparently couldn't be heard in any other spot but that one. Everyone says she her heart and lungs still sound great.

Yes doc she has and yes ma'am she does They didn't Call it CHF but that's what they're treating for. she has enlargement of the heart enough to cause some displacement of the esophagus/trachea. I questioned the lasix personally because she's never had any edema or ascites but she's on such a tiny dose (1/4 of a 12.5 mg pill every third day) that it's not hurting her and it's not like it's expensive (like the Vetmedin!) Last year's BUN/Creat and liver enzymes were all still normal. It does NOT stop her in any way. Until winter arrived we still took our mile walk every evening with her dictating the pace (fast!) and she still bops around the house. I'm seeing more problems with her arthritis then with her heart. We've had to add Dausuquin and a tiny amount of Tramadol for that, 12.5 mg bid. I'm glad SHE doesn't realize she's 13 cuz it breaks my heart to see those little cloudy eyes and stiff joints...

Mousie's been on it and Enalapril and Lasix for probably three years and has had no progression in her grade three murmur.

We have Kroger company here and 30 was $4 about a month ago. May have changed though...

I'm doing this from memory of more then 10 years ago... If the bilirubins are normal it's not liver "failure" but liver "toxicity" meaning the liver has been insulted/injured somehow but is not failing. My IG had an ALT of 1145 with normal bilis, a slightly elevated AST and normal GGT. She had been on long term Flagyl for suspected IBD which she does not appear to have and after several years of Milk Thistle and Sam-E (before Nutramax labs packaged them in to a convenient single pill) her liver labs have been normal for probably 6-7 years. She did have two series of Bile Acid studies, I can't remember how far apart. The pre-bile was elevated on the first sample, likely due to stress and normal on the post sample. The second test was completely normal. Something, some med maybe, has made his liver mad. Don't ignore it, but don't panic yet either. Give it time.

if it's at the head of the incision it is probably the knot from the internal, dissolvable stitches. Mousie took her knot out herself by licking it until she slipped it out. It healed within two days after that. It's not uncommon for the knot to cause irritation and not dissolve like it's supposed to

Mine doesn't. She ate it once and when served a second time she refused it an looked at me with an expression that said, "Really?!" Better luck to you Judy!

I used to just buy the Nature Made brand. I stopped though only becasue the pills were large and I was dosing an IG so it became easier to pay for the expensive stuff from the vet that came in her size -- the Denosyl.

does she exhibit any of the same weird behavior Larry is when she has her issues? No. She will move from bed to bed if she's really hurting and that may take her to try beds in other rooms, but she doesn't actually hide. She just tries to move away from the pain and find a place to be comfortable. and he's been eating the home cooked since 7/13 and in fact is getting less now than when I started (we had more kibble left to use up than I realized so I upped the kibble portion to use it up more quickly) so I don't know why it would take 34 days for this to start? And the 2nd looser poo is just normal for him, he's always done that. Hm, so maybe it's the reintroduction to kibble that's a problem. Or maybe he can't handle both natural and kibble he needs to be one or the other. How old is the kibble? Could it be getting stale or old? I'm reaching for anything you maybe haven't though of no matter how off the mark it may be that's what we are thinking too, so hopefully we'll see him more normal sometime today so far he's still hiding up in the bedroom, which is SO not like him. He's never hid or acted like this before. I typed my answers in bold inside the quote box, it seemed like it would take less time

It does sound to me like he's trying to outrun something. Gut pain is a definite possibility. (for those who have true IBD dogs, forgive this next statement): I think sometimes "IBD" is used as a cop-out diagnosis for "your dog has some kind of vague abdominal/GI disturbance and we don't know how else to classify it." And I say that statement that is so rude to dogs with true IBD because I have a dog with the cop-out version of that diagnosis. The vets call it IBD however she gets sick one day a month, may or may not vomit, never diarrhea, never loses weight, rarely ever bleeds and the symptoms last less then 24 hours without treatment. And this has not changed for 10 years. So while he may or may not be starting with IBD, the varience in the diet could be causing gastric or intestinal disturbance. He could be sensitive to all the extra fiber from the veggies, getting gas and the second looser poo. He could be sensitive to chicken like so many are sensitive to beef and what not. That could explain why he feels good until after he eats, then he hurts and hides. Then those overnight hours pass, the pain (or whatever) goes away and he feels good again.