my poor doggie ... long ( advice if you can ) heart probs

[Holly27]

first of all i need to say i rescued poppy a 13 yr old Yorkie ( not the diddy one) from a pound in Spain .. she is blind and has a heart problem , i was living in Spain for a yr when i had to return home to the UK
well she went and lived with a friend of a friend who dog sits and basically ive spent over 6 thousand pound in the last 8 months keeping her there and then transported over to the uk

OK so she arrives looks great very happy to see me ... so the very next morning take her to vets as in Spain i didn't quite get what was wrong with her it was like " she must take tablet 2 times day forever or she die"
so i promised how ever much it cost IL pay it ,to find out .well the vets here said she has the worst heart murmur they have ever herd and she goes in next wed to have a echo a ecg and a ultra sound to find out whats going on £1300 to find out whoops
anyway she is really wheezy and drinks so much like over 4 bowls of water a day and there big bowls, wees every hour
bless her
also the vet said she was probably no more than 7 yrs old !!
I'm so up set i love this dog more than anything so does my 3 yr old daughter
i keep crying ... do u think she is going to die or is it just different meds and diet? help i cant sleep due to worry ...
shes eating normal like a pig , shes not fat , doesn't really like walks anymore sits down allot
and when she sleeps she snores like a old man bless her ....

any advice going to vets wed ... but its all so sad ..
shes been through so much she was beaten bad in the pound and now i just want her to relax

if you got this far thanx

 

[A1fie]

you poor thing. I don't have any answers for you I'm afraid other than to say that her heart murmur has not caused her too many problems up till now.
You are doing everything that you can and hopefully with all the tests that the vets will do they will be able to let you know exactly what's wrong and what treatment she will need.
Fingers crossed for you x
And just try and think how happy you have made your little dog and how you have turned her life around.
It would also be amazing surely if she does turn out to be only 7? x

 

[dun_in]

I had dog with a mild heart murmer once and it wasn't a problem at all. Don't know about serious ones though.

Yorkies can be quite wheezy/snore. It may be the heart but they can often suffer from weak oesophagus's I think (?spelling).

Drinking water could be kidney problems or other causes. Diet can help a lot if it is this.

Proper investigations seem the best bet, but I suspect that with good (and expensive) veterinary care you may have her for quite a few years yet. I don't think 15's uncommon for Yorkies.

As she's blind take care that she gets her bearings in her new home, this shouldn't be too big a problem then.

Best wishes with your expensive but doubtless cute new pet - even dearer than mine - that makes me feel better.

 

[Holly27]

thanks guys xxxxx

 

[wireweiners]

Drinking lots of water and urinating very frequently are signs of kidney failure. Have the vets done any blood work? I would start with that before I did expensive heart tests. A simple blood chemistry can tell you if her kidney and liver are working properly. If she has chronic renal failure then the prognosis is not good unfortunately. There is a Yahoo group you might join, K9 Kidneys, that has loads of information about dogs with chronic renal failure, treatment, diets, supplements, etc. You might want to join that group. They were a great help to me when I was nursing my old dachsie through his last days. I managed to give him at least 6 more weeks of quality time. Good luck with your doggy.

 

[Honeyb]

I'm so sorry to hear this. It's awful to have to go through.

I had a little Terrier Cross called Jerry-Lee who was nine years old. She was always as fit as a fiddle until one summers night she was panting and really uncomfortable. Vet's diagnosed a grade 4/5 heart murmour (quiet bad). She was put onto Vetmedin to help try and reduce the size of her heart and also water tablets.

Jerry was good then for a few months, but in between there were times when we had to up the dose of the water tablet.

After about five months she collapsed in the garden one morning and I rushed her to the Vets. Didn't look good and she had to stay with them.

Bless her little cottons - she made it through and I went to collect her the next day. I was told she could have a pacemaker and would need to be reffered. I didn't feel this was fair as she was so poorly and hated getting out of her basket in the mornings (normally she would be on the farm at 4am ploughing through mud and water). and then just one morning I left her in her bed and came back to find her worried at the top o the stairs becaused she'd wet herself without knowing. For me I knew Jerry couldn't go through anymore. If it had been just a few months sooner she would have had that pacemaker, but I couldn't be selfish and put her through such major surgery and the months after.

The advice I can give you right now is do not walk your dog very far - let the dog wander round. Stairs may be difficult so carrying is best. Don't give the dog any food high in salt and don't be tempted to let the dog drink tea. Drinking plenty of water is fine as long as it's got rid of regulalry. Drinking lots is a sign of kindney failure, but my dog drank loads and the tests were fine on her kidneys.

Also, my dogs heart was pushing on her windpipe so don't walk with a collar - try a harness. The water tablets will help remove the fluid that makes your dog sound wheezy, so get them ASAP. They are Frusimide (not sure I've spelt it right) and it's a tablet given to humans. My dog was on quarter of a tablet in the morning and half at night. Her breathing always got worse at night.

If you need any more info then please do PM me and I'll try and help.

Big hugs sent your way.

 

[star]

what tablets is she on now? if it's frusemide then that will explain why she's drinking and peeing more as they are a diuretic.

if she has no clinical signs of heart failure then they can live for years. if she has signs then the average survival is 6-12months, although my last dog had a horrific murmur and lived another 3.5yrs before dying of a brain tumour.