Has Your Grey Gotten Congestive Heart Failure?

[Guest Harleys_girl06]

This is an update from my other board.

 

The vet has diagnosed a form of congestive heart failure. He says it is in the early stages, i think. Harls also has arthritis and a bad kidney. He is staying over at the clinic tonight.

 

 

 

It all began...

 

this morning when he couldn't walk (around 9 AM, at 6 AM when he was walked, he was fine). His back left leg seemed to hurt him, for he would not put it on the ground and he hopped. He tried jumping in the trunk of our Sante Fe, but he fell. We pushed him in through the side door. 2 Nurses had to take him out of the car, for he couldn't walk, he was panting and visibly stressed

 

The vet has contacted a cardiologist i believe, who said it was prob. congestive heart failure. poor poor harley.

 

 

has anyone dealt with this? im afraid he might be put down, if my parents dont want him in pain and pay for all of his drugs.

 

he is also being put on a diuretic (sp?) and 2 other drugs, I forgot the name right now.

[Burpdog]

How old is Harley? Has he been tested for tick borne diseases including Valley Fever?

[Guest Harleys_girl06]

He's 10.5 ... I don't think he has a tick borne disease, he has his flea and tick medicines put on regularly.

[Guest sheila]

my dog started having heart issues at around that age. With Enalapril he did just fine for several yrs (was good as new) and in his later yrs we added Lasix which also seemed to help. The drugs weren't all that expensive. I think the Enalapril was about $15 a month.

If your parents can't afford that please allow ppl on GT to see if there is another family in your area that would be willing to adopt him if the only other option is to put him down.

[ahicks51]

I believe Lasix is the frontline drug for this- it's been around for a long time, and is very safe and effective. I think it's pretty cheap, too.

 

The next string includes the ACE inhibitor enalapril, which goes by a number of names. If there are also kidney problems, then the drug of choice (IIRC) is benazepril.

[Guest greyladydown]

One of our adopters is going through this right now. He's had his dog over two years, and he had been healthy until just a week or so ago. If you can get your vet to write a script, most of the drugs are available at WalMart as part of the $4/$10 program.

 

BTW, we get TBD titers from Protatek for all the dogs before we adopt them out, and this dog was negative on everything.

 

He's 10.5 ... I don't think he has a tick borne disease, he has his flea and tick medicines put on regularly.

 

Unless you've had him from a young pup, he could have easily gotten a TBD while he was at the track/farm, so it's important to check.

[Guest Harleys_girl06]

Thanks for all the info, we found out one of the prices for some of his meds, which wasn't that expensive. Thanks for all the suggestions! I'll be talkin to the folks later on. Harley is doin better than this morning. We'll be getting him home tomorrow.

[Fudge]

Barney was a minature poodle with congestive heart failure....he had many good years on Enalipril and Lasix. He lived to be 14! The lasix sometimes makes them eat and drink more. The lasix is used to release the fluid build up around the heart so he may have to go out to potty more. The Enalipril somehow effects the pumping of the heart, I think.

 

As said above, the meds are not expensive.....the cardiologist will be expensive but it helps to see what stage of congestive heart failure he is in and after that the cost will be the meds.

 

Oh, also sometimes a low sodium diet will be prescribed but Barney didn't like it so I just watched the kind of treats

I would give him.

 

 

[Guest Harleys_girl06]

Thanks. The Lasix sounds like something the vet proscribed. Is that a human drug as well? If it is, than that's what Harley is getting.

 

 

If the dog is on diuretics, do they pee constantly? with accidents?

Edited June 27, 2008 by Harleys_girl06

[Fudge]

Thanks. The Lasix sounds like something the vet proscribed. Is that a human drug as well? If it is, than that's what Harley is getting.

 

 

If the dog is on diuretics, do they pee constantly? with accidents?

 

 

Yes, it is also a human drug and yes, there may be accidents occasionally...it took me a little while to realize I just need to let him out to potty more.

[Guest Harleys_girl06]

Yeah I googled the situation to realize that we'd just have to let him out more. The thing is we usually are gone from 7-3:30 pm everyday. We wouldn't be able to leave him alone peeing everywhere.....We are still discussing everything.

Edited June 27, 2008 by Harleys_girl06

[Guest TaraCoachCougar]

Coach has been on enalapril and a diuretic most of her adopted life (she's 13 now). She will pee a little every time she gets the chance but she makes it through 9-10 hour workdays with no problems. Not sure how your pup will react, but that has been our experience.

 

Good luck with the situation. I hope the treatment turns out to be simple and effective.

 

 

[Guest greyladydown]

You can use a belly band with a large size human incontinence pad during the day when you are not home. I find these work wonders for male dogs that pee a lot because of medications.

[Remolacha]

Sugar has been on Lasix and Enalapril for a few years and as TaraCoachCougar said, she will pee a little every time she goes out, but has no trouble lasting 8-9 hours without an accident. If he does have accidents, either a belly band or confining him to say, the kitchen with pee pads would work.

[Guest loisdad]

My Lois has had that for several years. Don't let the name of the disease scare you. It sounds awful I know. She is on a very low dose of enalapril (very cheap and can be purchased at walmart) and occasionally a Lasix.

 

A couple of years ago it was much worse, then she had a stroke/seizure episode (something dogs get over pretty quickly) which made her sick to her stomach for several days. Anyway, the silver lining was that she lost weight and the CHF got better. It gave me proof that overweight dogs really do have worse heart problems (not that I'm suggesting that about Harley

 

Best of luck. I really hope and pray that he does well.

[Guest ShelbyzMom]

good luck to Harley, were you able to bring him home yet?

[Guest Harleys_girl06]

We just arrived home. Harley can walk again but very very slow and a little wobbly. He is very weak on his feet, but he is going to rest now. :-\ I hope he's okay.

[jenn8]

My first greyhound had congestive heart failure. It is definitely manageable with the proper medications but you have to be diligent about giving them to him and following all your vet's instructions, including follow up visits. Some of the drugs they prescribe can affect the liver, so periodic blood tests need to be done to determine if the medications should be adjusted.

 

Your dog is 10.5 years old, so he's getting up there anyway but it should only take a little extra effort to make the best of his last few years (or longer... you never know). Ask your vet as many questions as you need to fully understand what you should do.

 

Also, giving multiple pills can be challenging. As someone else mentioned, too much sodium (from human foods especially) can be harmful. If you are looking for things to disguise his pills, try to find low sodium or sodium free. Some things that work are cottage cheese, liverwurst, peanut butter, cream cheese, etc. We have lots of ideas about this here if you need more.

 

Jenn

Edited June 28, 2008 by jenn8

[5blackgreys]

I'm glad Harley is home and can rest. I hope he feels better soon and with the medicines the vet gave you he will be back to his old self.

 

Please give him some nice gentle ear skritches from all of my pack : )

 

 

[Guest sheila]

You can use a belly band with a large size human incontinence pad during the day when you are not home. I find these work wonders for male dogs that pee a lot because of medications.

This is what I did with Kiowa the last 2 yrs of his life when I had to go to work. During the last yr or so I would get up in the middle of the night and let him out also. It may sound like a hassle, but after a bit it just becomes routine so that you don't even notice it. In fact even now that Kiowa is gone I still automatically wake up around 3 AM. I'm also getting to work 10 min earlier than before because I'm not having to fix his special morning meal with his meds and supplements and diaper him. I sure do miss him.....

[Guest Harleys_girl06]

Aw thats sad Harley is home today and has taken his pills. No accident yet, he holds it in pretty well. He gets very tired on his walks, though. The doc says we can't walk him around the block anymore. Soon we may have to just let him out in our backyard Poor tyke.

[Guest sheila]

Aw thats sad Harley is home today and has taken his pills. No accident yet, he holds it in pretty well. He gets very tired on his walks, though. The doc says we can't walk him around the block anymore. Soon we may have to just let him out in our backyard Poor tyke.

You make it sound like your dog is on his death bed. It isn't so. Once your dog is regulated on his meds he should be able to take a normal walk and romp in the yard. He may not be able to endure as long as a young one anymore, but he is not geriatric by any means. Just because he has slowed down doesn't mean he doesn't have several more yrs of happy life ahead of him.

[Guest GreytfulJack]

Glad to hear that Harley is home and with you!

[Guest chigal950]

Our Tai with CGF had by far the largest heart the vet had ever seen. We became aware of the problem when she developed croupy-sounding breathing and took her in. It took a while to find the right combination of meds to keep the fluids down and keep her comfortable. Once we did, she did amazingly well, and a year later was PTS due to osteo. If it handn't been for the osteo the vet thinks we might have had another year or 2. She really did very well.

 

The only useful thing I can remember about the meds to share with you is I do remember giving Lasix, Enalapril, Spironolactone and Digoxin (digitalis). Tai really went downhill and stopped eating or functioning for a couple of days until we figured out that the Digoxin was the culprit and backed off the dosage.

 

It does take a commitment to track and measure the pills, I remember having to cut pills into 1/2s or 1/3 or 1/6 to get the right dosage. I used a pillminder with days of the week and would set up a weeks' worth at a time to make it easier. I don't recall these meds being so expensive but I can't say for sure - we generally pay 'whatever it costs' when it comes to the dogs.

 

I hope this is helpful.

[GeorgeofNE]

Yeah I googled the situation to realize that we'd just have to let him out more. The thing is we usually are gone from 7-3:30 pm everyday. We wouldn't be able to leave him alone peeing everywhere.....We are still discussing everything.

 

 

Get a Belly Band and a big box of HUMAN Serenity pads. They're like a ginormous maxi pad, only meant for urine (they hold a TON). They peel and stick to the belly band. That way your folks won't have to get upset if he has an accident.

 

My boy had to wear them for a pretty long time because he had a kidney infection. They REALLY work. It won't stop him from going, 'cause if you gotta go, you gotta go, it just won't destroy your house.

 

You could also look into a dog walker--