My dog has a heart murmur!

[Gracie]

You really really really need to rehome the sharpei. Even I can feel your hatred of that dog via your posts. I can also feel your guilt. Don't feel guilty. Just rehome the dog. You are not doing it any favors. It knows it is unloved. Unloved people..and animals...can either go off to die alone...or become vicious. If you really love animals...you will do what is best for the sharpei and that is to remove her from your home and let someone else love her. Preferably someone with no other dogs so she can be alpha.

When Gracie was seizing...karma quietly laid by her side even though she could hav gotten bit. When Gracie stopped and began the pacing, karma stayed right by her and would lick her face from all the slobber and drool. Moki the rat terrier stayed under the bed. The cat would lick Gracies eyes when she finally laid down to rest. I am alpha here. And they all know it. But none want that position anyway. They just showed support for poor Gracie.

This saturday..it will be 12 weeks. All of us are like zombies still. We miss her.

 

[Kooshdakhaa]

Well, Gracie, I'm actually concerned that she might end up in an abusive situation. I may not love her, but I make sure she's taken care of. And as I've mentioned before, I make a point to pet her and say her name so that she feels included in whatever is going on. I don't abuse her. And I did save her.

I will start looking into finding her a home, though. If I can find the right home, I will let her go.

 

[Gracie]

My mother hated me. She would buy me things though, because of the guilt. I always felt sad when she gave me gifts because I knew it was not really for me..it was for her conscience. Words mean nothing. Not really. The tone, the vibes, the hate...none of made the feelings I got from her made it feel any better when she gave me those presents.
She fucked up my life by doing her duty. I would have rather been with volatile people than with her. So I bailed at a very young age. The sharpei does not have that option. She is doomed to be with someone she knows dislikes her. And her actions show she knows. She takes it out on Greta. And as you said..if she hurts greta in her weakened state...you would probably kill her in a fit of rage. This is why I said it would be in the best interests of yourself, Greta AND yourself to place her somewhere else. A sharpei rescue group will be very thorough in going thru people who express an interest in her. They are very tough when it comes to adopting, so they won't give her to just anyone. Just make sure you tell them all her quirks and that she needs to be in a home with no other dogs. Once she is gone, you will feel more at peace. And so will Greta. And so will the sharpei.

Good luck, hon.

 

[strollingbones]

o everyone here is pretty chilled now....thor and clark have never known a hard day.....buddy is okay now...he is happy......yoda doesnt seem to remember being left at the end of the drive way and tiff is just a bitch....

 

[Zoom-boing]

You know what I keep realizing? If Greta and Lucy hadn't gotten into this sudden spat and I hadn't needed to take Greta to the emergency vet Saturday night...we might not have discovered the heart murmur at this early stage...

Hmmm. Silver linings?

Everything happens for a reason.

Sorry about the heart mummer and fluid. Hopefully the right meds will help and she will be around for years still.

 

[Mertex]

I took my dog to an emergency vet Saturday night. She has a bite on her leg from a spat with one of my other dogs, and it was starting to look pretty bad, so I took her in.

That's being treated and has shown improvement, but the bad news is the vet detected a heart murmur. Now, she's a Doberman, and they have a strong genetic predisposition for heart disease...dilated cardiomyopathy in particular.

This murmur may be an indicator of that. In addition, she's lost quite a bit of weight, another possible symptom.

From what I've read, if her heart has already started to enlarge, she may only have six months to live. But if it's only the murmur and no changes have occurred with her heart, it's possible that medication can extend her life two and even three years.

Tomorrow we see her regular vet and then go from there.

I knew she wouldn't live forever, but God I'm not ready to lose her yet. She'll be 10 years old on October 24th. I already have her presents bought and stashed in a closet.

My sweet Greta. She is the center of my Universe.

Oh, I feel for you. We just buried our pet cat of 16 years Freeway, and I know how hard it is to lose a pet. I hope the vet is wrong and she hangs around a lot longer.

 

[Kooshdakhaa]

Greta seems much better today. Her breathing is better and she was much more active today when I took the dogs out for a romp. She's also been in a very good mood. Either her leg is feeling a lot better or the diuretics the vet put her on are helping. Or both. We go back to the vet Monday at 3pm to get those damn staples out of her leg. Then she won't have to wear the cone anymore. I only make her wear it during the day when I am at work. At night I have her sleep right by me and I put a leash on her which I hold close all night long. That way if she starts bothering her bandaged leg I'll feel the movement and wake up. That way she doesn't have to wear the cone when I'm sleeping. I try to minimize the amount of time she has to have that damn thing on.

 

[strollingbones]

o yea cone sympathy....i have that..and would take the cone off and sleep next to thor....vet busted me for that...could see where he had chewed,...not much but vet knew the cone was off for times..

 

[Wolfsister77]

Oh yes, I am all too familiar with cone guilt. We had a dog that was absolutely pitiful with his cone on. Made me feel terrible but he had to have it or he was bugging his ear constantly-he had a hematoma they had to drain. The look he gave me was the worst-how can you do this to me mom?

So yeah, I took it off and he'd go for the ear so he had to wear it. When he could finally get it off, he did the happy dance.

Too funny.

Glad Greta is feeling better.

 

[syrenn]

good to know she is feeling better!

 

[Kooshdakhaa]

o yea cone sympathy....i have that..and would take the cone off and sleep next to thor....vet busted me for that...could see where he had chewed,...not much but vet knew the cone was off for times..

I once experienced the horror of coming into a room and seeing that Greta had ripped her stitches out. I'm not exaggerating by saying it was a horrifying experience!

So, everytime I leave her unattended for a few minutes, I know the chance I am taking. It is a constant battle between the soft-hearted me and the me who is stern and takes care of business. When I'm downstairs I make her stay downstairs, sleep on the couch or whatever so I can keep an eye on her. If she goes upstairs where I can't watch her, she knows she has to have the cone on. And sometimes she chooses that, oddly enough. She'll keep sneaking upstairs until I finally put the cone on her and say, "There, now you can go anywhere you want!"

Sleeping with the leash on seems to be working pretty well. I literally wrap the leash around my arm so there is about six inches of leash between me and her head. Any movement and I know it. We both seem to be able to sleep comfortably that way. 'Cause we're soulmates.

 

[Kooshdakhaa]

Oh yes, I am all too familiar with cone guilt. We had a dog that was absolutely pitiful with his cone on. Made me feel terrible but he had to have it or he was bugging his ear constantly-he had a hematoma they had to drain. The look he gave me was the worst-how can you do this to me mom?

So yeah, I took it off and he'd go for the ear so he had to wear it. When he could finally get it off, he did the happy dance.

Too funny.

Glad Greta is feeling better.

Yeah, we usually have a little celebration when the evil cone is no longer needed! I make a big show of putting it away somewhere, out of sight, and then we all dance around and laugh and stuff.

 

[Kooshdakhaa]

Well, Greta went to the vet yesterday and got the staples out of her leg! No more bandage, no more cone head!

This is why I love my vet, I mentioned that we were going to schedule an electrocardiogram and he said to his assistant, can't we just take her back there now and do it? She said, "We only have eight minutes left on this appointment." But he told her, that's okay, let's just get it done! I love him!

Today he called me and said there is a slight arrhythmia. In Dobermans, the odds are that this is due to cardiomyopathy. The cardiac specialist recommended that we get an echocardiogram to further analyze what is going on.

So, today at 2:30 p.m. I will be taking her to a specialty clinic to have that test done.

Once again, if some heart diseases are caught early, medications can greatly strengthen the heart, significantly prolonging life.

 

[Mertex]

Well, Greta went to the vet yesterday and got the staples out of her leg! No more bandage, no more cone head!

This is why I love my vet, I mentioned that we were going to schedule an electrocardiogram and he said to his assistant, can't we just take her back there now and do it? She said, "We only have eight minutes left on this appointment." But he told her, that's okay, let's just get it done! I love him!

Today he called me and said there is a slight arrhythmia. In Dobermans, the odds are that this is due to cardiomyopathy. The cardiac specialist recommended that we get an echocardiogram to further analyze what is going on.

So, today at 2:30 p.m. I will be taking her to a specialty clinic to have that test done.

Once again, if some heart diseases are caught early, medications can greatly strengthen the heart, significantly prolonging life.

Glad to hear Greta's rid of bandages and cone. Bet she's a lot happier. Hope the heart thing is nothing to worry about.

 

[Kooshdakhaa]

Well, Greta went to the vet yesterday and got the staples out of her leg! No more bandage, no more cone head!

This is why I love my vet, I mentioned that we were going to schedule an electrocardiogram and he said to his assistant, can't we just take her back there now and do it? She said, "We only have eight minutes left on this appointment." But he told her, that's okay, let's just get it done! I love him!

Today he called me and said there is a slight arrhythmia. In Dobermans, the odds are that this is due to cardiomyopathy. The cardiac specialist recommended that we get an echocardiogram to further analyze what is going on.

So, today at 2:30 p.m. I will be taking her to a specialty clinic to have that test done.

Once again, if some heart diseases are caught early, medications can greatly strengthen the heart, significantly prolonging life.

Glad to hear Greta's rid of bandages and cone. Bet she's a lot happier. Hope the heart thing is nothing to worry about.

She is ecstatic, Mertex!

 

[syrenn]

Well, Greta went to the vet yesterday and got the staples out of her leg! No more bandage, no more cone head!

This is why I love my vet, I mentioned that we were going to schedule an electrocardiogram and he said to his assistant, can't we just take her back there now and do it? She said, "We only have eight minutes left on this appointment." But he told her, that's okay, let's just get it done! I love him!

Today he called me and said there is a slight arrhythmia. In Dobermans, the odds are that this is due to cardiomyopathy. The cardiac specialist recommended that we get an echocardiogram to further analyze what is going on.

So, today at 2:30 p.m. I will be taking her to a specialty clinic to have that test done.

Once again, if some heart diseases are caught early, medications can greatly strengthen the heart, significantly prolonging life.

thanks for the update hun...... im glad she is not a cone head any more!

let us know who it goes.


and great pink avi!!!

 

[Kooshdakhaa]

Okay, Greta had her echocardiogram. The specialist vet explained that her heart is not contracting all the way, but she has seen much worse, it is very mild. Her diagnosis is early dilated cardiomyopathy. Yes, it's the dreaded dilated cardiomyopathy, but I pretty much knew that would be the case. But we caught it EARLY. The heart has not had to enlarge to compensate, yet. So it is quite possible that meds will strengthen the heart enough to slow the disease down considerably and add a few years to her life.

The specialist will consult with my regular vet and they will suggest what to do. The specialist said sometimes no treatment is done at this point, that this test is a baseline and we do another test in a few months to see how fast the disease is progressing.

I say, no. We don't wait to see how fast the disease is progressing, we treat it NOW. Depending on side effects of the meds, of course. But I don't want to mess around with this.

I have a lot of reading to do!

I must remember that the vets were going to treat my dog's arthritis with pain meds, with all their potential side effects. I'm the one who researched and discovered the miracle of Adequan. Only then did my vet prescribe it and teach me how to give the shots. And I saw the amazing improvement, so much so that no pain meds are needed.

So I'm going to need to be even more proactive with this condition.

 

[syrenn]

I agree.... start treatment now.

 

[syrenn]

how is he doing [MENTION=31092]Kooshdakhaa[/MENTION]

 

[Kooshdakhaa]

Ah, alas, poor Greta developed some significant symptoms of dilated cardiomyopathy. She woke me up in the night having trouble breathing, and you could hear the gurgling and fluid in her chest and she was coughing a lot! It was horrible! We went to the emergency room, the symptoms had pretty much cleared up by the time we got there, but they put her on Lasix to get rid of the fluid. But they had me on a schedule of reducing the dosage and reduced it too much and the symptoms came back. What a nightmare. Luckily, my own vet got involved and got the right mix and dosages of medications going for her.

To make a long story short, she is doing much better now. She was on enalapril, which is a great heart med, and Lasix to reduce the fluid in her lungs, but my vet also put her on pimobendan, a heart medicine which is known to be very effective in reducing these symptoms and prolonging life. I also put her on Coenzyme Q10, which is known to be good for the heart in humans as well as dogs. Oh, and she is also on Spironocactone, another diuretic that works somewhat differently than the Lasix. Just to cover all the bases.

She hasn't coughed or had labored breathing/fluid in lungs in at least a couple of weeks. Another symptom was that she has gotten so skinny. But I think she's starting to gain some weight back.

I don't dare get my hopes up, though, just be grateful for each good day. It's a terminal illness, it's just a matter of how long it will take to kill her. Apparently what will happen is the symptoms will eventuallyl start returning in spite of the meds. We can increase some of the dosages, but eventually...

Well, let's just say a lot of the joy will go out of the world when I lose this dog. She is the light of my life. I don't want to be too optimistic because it seems like everytime my mood starts to improve lately the Universe slaps me down again as if I'm being punished for being happy. Not just with my dog, but with other things that are going on as well. I know...wah, wah, wah.