Giant Breeds - Heart Failure

[vanessahook]

Was just wondering if anyone has any experience of this? I have a 10 year old St Bernard and he is the first dog i have ever owned so no previous experience.
He was diagnosed with heart failure at Christmas and has been on a cocktail of drugs ever since. The vet gave him 3 months to live at Christmas so he has done pretty well but is this a normal expectation? He has now just started on what the vet called our "last defence" against his failing heart. He is actually doing ok and has a reasonable quality of life still but clearly needs a lot of looking after.
I'm also wondering but kind of don't want to know if anyone has been through this how did your dog end up going? Did you have to have them pts or did they just drift off in their sleep? Any info or experiences would be gratefully received.

 

[Acolyte]

Not with a giant breed but one of my whippets had heart failure, and my mum has cavaliers which (if you believe the BBC documentary

) are one big veterinary disaster and all have heart failure!

The experiences I have had have resulted in the dog getting progressively frailer and weaker until the decision was made to have them PTS as this was the kindest option for them. I have only know of one dog which actually dropped dead from heart failure, and none which have died quietly in their sleep.

Hopefully others will have different experiences to share, but I must say how impressed I am that your St Bernard is 10 years old - what a great age for a giant breed

so all credit to you

 

[Penniless]

We had an Irish Wolfhound who was diagnosed with a very large heart and was told he wouldn't live much longer (he was about 5 at the time). Well he went on for another 4 years without any problems at all, (had daily drugs) and very sadly died in his sleep.

 

[BBH]

Our St Bernard died at 8 of heart failure, it was heartbreaking as we were used to Labs who went at about 12.