Weight Loss, And A Curved Aorta?

[Guest collarbones]

Hi everyone,

I have an 11 year old male greyhound named Digby. He's always been on the thin side but in the last year or so he has started losing weight even though he is still eating his food. I've been adding raw ground beef to his food and when I do it very consistantly, it staves off the weight loss, but I can't seem to get him to gain anything. The vet has always found his blood work normal, poops normal, and his behaviour hasn't changed. At his healthiest he was about 76 pounds and now he is down to 61.6.

 

Yesterday we went to the vet to get his teeth cleaned and the surgeon was second guessing whether it would be good idea for him to go under anaesthetic.. this was part due to a mild heart murmur, and the fact that he has recently started coughing, which can be indicative of an enlarged heart.

 

He had a chest xray done, which showed a possibility of the heart being SLIGHTLY enlarged (but I've since read that this is normal for greys), and also instead of his aorta running flat along under his spine, it has a bit of a dip in it. The vet was unware of whether this is normal for greys - does anyone know?

 

Anyway, she's referred us to an Internal Medicine Specialist (she called first and the specialist thought that the weight loss wouldn't be related to the heart murmur or aorta thing).

 

Does anyone have any ideas or similar experiences? I'm kind of assuming the specialist won't find anything because his bloodwork is normal and the vet said that usually if there is a prob with an organ it will show up in bloodwork.. But he will probably get an ultrasound there to check out his belly.

 

Vets are ridiculously expensive around here so i'm freaking a bit about the costs involved. My appt next week will be almost $700 just for hte consult and ultrasound..

 

Thoughts??

 

Erin

[Charlies_Dad]

Erin, I cannot respond to the aorta question however we just experienced something similar to you with our 8 year old Jack. He was losing weight through the Fall and we have tried to increase but to little avail. We went to our regular vet when he started to hack every once in a while only last week and the diagnosis was possibly an irritated throat. We saw two vets over aa few days with him and neither seemed to consider his heart too big or too concerning. Well on Sunday he had another hacking episode but this time his breathing became laboured and we went to the E-vet. Suffice to say, we should have caught on sooner and our boy was diagnosed by a Cardiologist as having a much larger heart than we thought and a 3/4 of 6 murmur. To say it was shocking is an understatement. We like you knew our pups heart was enlarged (as of July) and had a murmur but did not put the pieces together soon enough. I highly recommend your plan of seeing an Internist but I would also suggest a Cardiologist as well (ours was both so it worked out very well). As for the dollars, yeah it is very expensive. Our ultrasound alone was $851 and the day+ in hospital being stabilized/assessed rang it up to $2500 with meds. I would get copies of his heart x-rays and have a Cardiologist look at them closely.

 

This was our experience. I hope Digby is not having the same issues as our Jack.

[Guest collarbones]

Thanks for your reply! Are they able to treat his enlarged heart effectively? What type of meds did they give him?

 

Erin

[tbhounds]

Before you make the appointment with the IM Dr I would send the films to Ohio State and let them evaluate them first.

[Charlies_Dad]

Thanks for your reply! Are they able to treat his enlarged heart effectively? What type of meds did they give him?

 

Erin

 

 

Erin,

 

Jack is now on:

 

Vetmedin

Fortekor

Furosemide

Spiroton (Aldactone)

Norvasc

 

They are not cheap if you get them at a vet but you can source a number of them at a pharmacy. This is the protocol our Cardiologist put him on, another might be slightly different. As tbhounds replied, you could send the films to OSU and I believe their consult fee is not a lot as they see so many Greys for various reasons. They may state after seeing the films you need to see an Cardio or Internist locally and get an ultra sound performed but it's worth a try as like I said it's a relatively cheap consult with experts.

[GeorgeofNE]

Detecting a heart murmur is very subjective. I had one vet swear my old dog have a "significant" one, and four other vets say he had the strongest heartbeat they'd ever heard. I would not worry too much about that, particulary if he said it was "mild." Also, it's totally normal for a Greyhound's heart to appear larger than a "regular" dog, so unless your vet is Greyhound saavy, I wouldn't get to upset about that at this point. There are plenty of reasons a dog might be losing weight--your doctor seems to have decided without any real solid evidence that your dog has a heart problem. I've never heard of a curved aorta--but it's a flexible structure, is it not?

 

I'd be more inclined to look at his belly area first for the cause of weight loss.

[KF_in_Georgia]

Will he eat more than you're currently feeding him? I had a boy start losing weight when he was getting 3 cups of kibble a day--as he had been for years. We just upped his food to 4 cups a day--of the same kibble he'd been eating--and he ate it happily and put the weight back on. The vet thinks that as he aged he just became less able to absorb all the nutrients out of the food. But he's got a touchy stomach--easily slips over the line into diarrhea--so we didn't want to change his diet by adding something more fattening. I also started giving him chewable fiber tablets every day (to help firm things up) and probiotics. He's back to 3 cups a day and his weight is holding steady.

[Guest collarbones]

Wow Charlie's dad, that's a lot of different meds.. You will have to keep us updated on how he's doing. I will look into OSU. I know their membership is $100 but not sure what a consult fee is..

 

GeorgeofNE I'm not sure how flexible the aorta is but it normally runs along straight under the spine. I'd imagine it was more rigid as far as arteries go since it's quite large. I agree that looking at the belly is probably more useful for figuring out the weight loss issues.. He was quite tense when we went so she couldn't really get a good feel from the outside. Thanks for reiterating what I've just started hearing recently - that grey hearts a little large! I'm glad ppl keep reassuring me with this

 

KF, He won't eat any more kibble, but I've been mixing ground beef in to add some calories and to make sure he finishes his kibble (he isn't always interested). Right now he's getting around 4 cups of kibble and about a cup of ground beef per day!!! Some days he skips his morning 2 cups of kibble though. I only mix the beef in the eve when I'm around to make sure my other grey doesn't steal it.. lol.. (poor girl.. i always give her a big spoonful to make her happy too)

[JJNg]

I will look into OSU. I know their membership is $100 but not sure what a consult fee is..

The consultation is free. Here's the website:

OSU Greyhound Consultation Service