Congestive heart failure - how does it end?

[ellen423]

Originally Posted by msenlightened1

Hello I hope I am doing this correctly. My first time on this site. I have missed many doses and I didnt think bear bear would survive the night. But he has many times.

so sorry for what you are going through. I buried my Fuzzy Bear yesterday. after reading your post, it makes sense why he must have taken a turn for the worst as he threw up and probably threw up his diuretic. My little boy did not go peacefully as some posters have been so blessed that thier dog had.It was painful and horrific to watch. I woke about 4 am and found him laying in a puddle of bloody fluid that had come from his lungs. This has to be very painful, because the blood is caused by extreme lung pressure according to the vet. I had him put down an hour later, but will forever regret waiting so long to do it.
heres what I did to help remind me about the pills: in the morning I gave the pills and then filled a medicine cup with the evening dose. If I walked past the medicine cup and it was empty before 8 pm, I knew I forgot to give the morning pills. on the mirror in my bathroom I wrote in magic marker a reminder about the pills- cant miss that when your brushing your teeth for bed. hope this helps you too.

[dopalgangr]

I know there are many heart breaking stories on here already and I came across this site in my grief search. My question is really about how safe Lasix is. I had a 13 yr old Chihuahua that was having the symptoms described in the posts above (wheezing while eating, coughing a lot, etc). Local vet put him on heart medicine (cant remember what off hand). I noticed him panting a lot with tremors in his legs every now and then. He would have shallow breathing spells too. Yesterday we came home to find him doing the shallow breathing so we took him to vet. Chest x-ray revealed lots of fluid in his lungs and around heart?? The vet gave him Lasix and said we should take him to the emergency vet which is half hour away. Got him to the car and he collapsed and lost all bowels. My wife thought he was dead and I noticed him seizing. We took him back into the Vet and his tongue was purple, inside ears gray, and he was having labored breathing. The Vet said it was best to put him to sleep, which we did. My question is why the hell administer that drug if you don't have the capabilities to provide further care after if complications occur? Now my poor Scooter is dead and there is a huge hole in my family. I wish we had taken him to emergency Vet to begin with and maybe he might be alive today

[Spottednikes]

Originally Posted by dopalgangr

I know there are many heart breaking stories on here already and I came across this site in my grief search. My question is really about how safe Lasix is. I had a 13 yr old Chihuahua that was having the symptoms described in the posts above (wheezing while eating, coughing a lot, etc). Local vet put him on heart medicine (cant remember what off hand). I noticed him panting a lot with tremors in his legs every now and then. He would have shallow breathing spells too. Yesterday we came home to find him doing the shallow breathing so we took him to vet. Chest x-ray revealed lots of fluid in his lungs and around heart?? The vet gave him Lasix and said we should take him to the emergency vet which is half hour away. Got him to the car and he collapsed and lost all bowels. My wife thought he was dead and I noticed him seizing. We took him back into the Vet and his tongue was purple, inside ears gray, and he was having labored breathing. The Vet said it was best to put him to sleep, which we did. My question is why the hell administer that drug if you don't have the capabilities to provide further care after if complications occur? Now my poor Scooter is dead and there is a huge hole in my family. I wish we had taken him to emergency Vet to begin with and maybe he might be alive today

Don't beat yourself up. Once their lungs start filling with fluid, they are dying. There is no drug that will prevent that. Lasix is effective in the earlier stages when they are coughing when they exercise, and getting belly edema. But when it gets to having fluid in the lungs, gasping type breathing, there is nothing you can do but euthanize.

[dopalgangr]

Thanks for the response. I really just needed some affirmation and a place to put it down in writing. I know now that it is was the best decision and appreciated your response.

[joodster]

My condolences to everyone in this thread. I just lost my 15 year old chihuahua to CHF this morning and I wished I could’ve read this thread sooner because he deteriorated SO quickly. Three days ago he was eating and drinking fine and being his usual self but then two days ago he became extremely lethargic. Then yesterday afternoon it seemed like he was going to pass but he was able to get a second wind of energy, however he was too weak to even stand up for long. He had difficulty passing stool and threw up a bit of food he ate the night before. We took him to the emergency vet later that night who told us it could be either gastroenteritis, which would explain the vomiting and diarrhea, or that he was going through multiple organ failure that was causing all of these symptoms. The vet took his blood pressure and it was 28 when the normal range starts at 70. The vet was very nice, gave us anto-vomiting medication, and told us good luck. Then this morning his condition had not gotten any better. His tongue was stuck out and he had a few muscle contractions where he looked like he was gagging before he finally passed away. It all went south so quickly. But he’s not suffering anymore and the Vetmedin, Enalapril, and Lasix we put him on bought us two years of quality time together since his diagnosis.

My question to everyone is how was your dog’s dental health before and during the time it was diagnosed with congestive heart failure? My chihuahua had very poor dental health and pretty much lost all of his teeth. The emergency vet even found a hole in his gums. We should’ve paid more attention to his dental health but my parents refused to pay for the expensive tartar cleaning treatments and I was still in high school then with no say in the matter.