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Our three year old English bully died from CHF and he fell down our second store stairs after his heart failed him. I wish he had gone in his sleep like I have read about everyone else's dog. By mine woke up and tried to come downstairs and didn't make it. Just shy of four months on the medicine cocktails. I held him as he took his last breath. His attitude and appetite never changed. We drained him weekly. He drank water like a fish. His last two weeks all I noticed was constant diarrhea and not being able to balance on his legs. His ears started to crust along the edges due to poor circulation. These are real signs.
Just found out today that my baby Cotton has CHF. He is almost 10 yrs. He was born in my house so it is everything a mom would feel for a child. Maybe sounds odd but that's how I feel about him and I just can not imagine life without him. He also has a brother, born the following year, also born in my house. They have been inseparable. I am devasted and don't know how to help Higgins in the end.
Our Chihuahua had CHF. Lived almost two years. Medications had to be increased quite a few times as the condition progressed. Eventually she was on a very high dose and having a hard time breathing again, coughing. Took her in and the vet said she was in the end stages and we could take her home and wait or we could put her down so she crossed over without the stress of a final natural ending. We put her down.
My concern is for the animals you're breeding. CHF at 10 years old? Please stop breeding your lines. My dog was 20 years old when she was put down. She was diagnosed at 18. We had another that we put down at almost 22 years old, another at 19 and another at 18. They were all rescued dogs, not even from some fancy schmancy breeder, so if yours are being diagnosed with CHF at such a young age, you need to stop breeding and passing those lines along.
I'm sorry for the diagnosis, sorry for your dog and sorry for you. I know how you feel. We haven't had any born here, ours are all rescues and spayed and neutered immediately, but I do know what it feels like to feel they're your child and you are helpless when they're so sick.
So why is 10 years old too young for CHF? Our male dog, whippet, is 11 years old and has CHF. Symptoms were coughing and labored breathing. We tend to check his breathing rate and judge his well being based on that. (He has seen the vet and cardiologist and is now on a few heart medications, including Vetmedin). The meds absolutely helped. I see all kinds of good stories on line about Vetmedin; maybe a lot of pharmaceutical hype but there may be some truth there.
He is a rescue and we were told the owners were NOT good breeders. I had a MD I work for look at his Xray and she was able to say that it was congenital.
So why is 10 years old too young for CHF? Our male dog, whippet, is 11 years old and has CHF. Symptoms were coughing and labored breathing. We tend to check his breathing rate and judge his well being based on that. (He has seen the vet and cardiologist and is now on a few heart medications, including Vetmedin). The meds absolutely helped. I see all kinds of good stories on line about Vetmedin; maybe a lot of pharmaceutical hype but there may be some truth there.
He is a rescue and we were told the owners were NOT good breeders. I had a MD I work for look at his Xray and she was able to say that it was congenital.
Whippets average life span is 12-15 years. Dogs diagnosed with CHF, depending on the stage they're in and the reason they have it, usually are told they have six months to a year to live. That means your dogs life span would be 11.5 to 12 years. Close to the low end of average. With a well bred dog, genetic diseases like CHF (when caused by genetic issues and not by something like heartworms) are bred out of the lines for the most part. Don't get me wrong, even in well bred litters, occasionally these things will still pop up, but they're much less likely.
Does it mean your dog is poorly bred? Probably but not necessarily. My point to the person that was quoted was they are breeding dogs that have this genetic disorder. A good breeder, or even an ethical hobby breeder, would never breed dogs with terminally genetic disorders.
My chi was on a blood pressure pill and Lasix and Vetmedin, the last of which was given over a year after her diagnoses. We were lucky that we caught hers very early. Like you, we noticed a light cough but she didn't have the labored breathing yet. The Vetmedin bought her roughly six months before her condition had deteriorated so much that not euthanizing her would have been cruel.
On a side note, I have a house full of rescues, mostly purebred, though poorly bred. They have the biggest personalities and the most wonderful loving hearts. Love doesn't have a thing to do with fancy schmancy breeding.
I just had my beloved pet die from CHF, I can tell you from my experience it was not a quick painless passing. I had an awful experience. I had him on med's and took care of him the best I could. The night he was bad I even brought him to the emergency vet, they wanted to do all these tests and I told them no, he was brought there to put him out of his misery and instead gave me false hope because they put him in a bubble dome of oxygen. They just wanted to keep charging lots of $$ and giving me false facts when I told them he was dying. They as experienced health care vets, should of known the proper solution and how to handle this. Instead I watched my poor baby suffer until my vet opened up in which they were able to put him to sleep so he was at peace. My heart is so broken that I cant even express the sadness I feel. A piece of me died with my baby that day. I am numb and missing him so. My advice is to anyone going through this with your baby, please watch the signs. The cough will get worse and when it does and the meds dont help like they use to, get him to your vet ASAP, because after that the time will come quickly. Dont let them get to that point of at all suffering! Please, you will live with that the rest of your life and from my experience if I can just help one person, I will feel like someone heard me. Hug your babies because you might not get the chance later. RIP YOGI BEAR, Mom loves ya.....
I am relieved to of read your post. We lost our amazing beautiful intelligent working sheepdog two nights ago from this. I feel so naive that I hadn't researched the end or how it could pan out? I assumed we'd see her deteriorate to the extent she'd have to be put down. But in actual fact, she was doing great on medication. She'd played all evening with her toys in the garden, she'd even had tug of war with our other dog Kasper. She'd had her favourite tea. But at 10pm, she suddenly started finding it difficult to breathe. I sat with her stroking her. She was always literally at my side. I decided I'd sleep downstairs to stay near her as I was worried. I woke an hour or so later to find her really struggling for breath, coughing and frothing a bit at the mouth. I quickly woke my partner and we called the emergency vet who said bring her right in. Horrendously, she died enroute there. I feel so shocked. I feel traumatised that she suffered, or that I didn't call the vet sooner? I had no idea this could happen so suddenly. It's helped greatly to read other posts that your dogs can be OK one minute then deteriorate. I just wish I'd found this site beforehand. I wish I'd asked the vet more questions or called them sooner. I miss her so much.
I have a beautiful rescue dog, Amber,. She is 9 yrs old with an enlarged heart and is on lasix and enalapril. She coughs constantly and I've noticed she isn't as perky as usual unless my boyfriend is talking to her. She is very skitish and doesn't let us hold her so the loving has to be by tone and petting. It makes me sad not to be able to hold and comfort her and you know at night she is a little uneasy once we go to bed. The coughing has intensified and we are unsure what her quality of life is. Making the decision to let nature take its course is what we are planning but not sure what to look for to know if she is hurting.
You have a very difficult decision. Our Pomeranian was on 3 meds for CHF. She seemed ok until our dog walker, in vet tech college, stopped by to visit. I wasn't there when she reportedly fainted (several episodes no connection to CHF even before meds) and my husband said it took over 30 seconds to try to revive her. She seemed stunned and when I arrived a few minutes later, we took her in to my vet for oxygen and further consultation. Her onset seems to be more aggressive than others. He said her episodes were happening more frequently. There is no correct answer on when to say goodbye and no matter what your course you will question everything you chose to do. With us she was euthanized in our backyard by our vet that evening. prior to her relaxation shot, she was kissing me and playing like her old self. I wanted to stop the process and all were as supportive as possible. My sister, vet tech and even our vet said I could. I asked each their opinion and I was tortured with trying to decide. ultimately I was advised to do what is best for our precious Pom to transition over. Our Pom seemed ok at that moment but then again if it happened while we were at work or asleep, the death has a history of being very painful. So I made a decision and still regret not waiting to give her another month. Then again, the question remains if she died when we were not home it would have been lonely and scary. Some say you know when it is time. I hope you can balance this timeline with making sure your baby doesn't suffer thereby allowing you time to say goodbye. Bless you and all of us that have gone through this with our beloved companions.
I have a beautiful rescue dog, Amber,. She is 9 yrs old with an enlarged heart and is on lasix and enalapril. She coughs constantly and I've noticed she isn't as perky as usual unless my boyfriend is talking to her. She is very skitish and doesn't let us hold her so the loving has to be by tone and petting. It makes me sad not to be able to hold and comfort her and you know at night she is a little uneasy once we go to bed. The coughing has intensified and we are unsure what her quality of life is. Making the decision to let nature take its course is what we are planning but not sure what to look for to know if she is hurting.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Debra986
I am relieved to of read your post. We lost our amazing beautiful intelligent working sheepdog two nights ago from this. I feel so naive that I hadn't researched the end or how it could pan out? I assumed we'd see her deteriorate to the extent she'd have to be put down. But in actual fact, she was doing great on medication. She'd played all evening with her toys in the garden, she'd even had tug of war with our other dog Kasper. She'd had her favourite tea. But at 10pm, she suddenly started finding it difficult to breathe. I sat with her stroking her. She was always literally at my side. I decided I'd sleep downstairs to stay near her as I was worried. I woke an hour or so later to find her really struggling for breath, coughing and frothing a bit at the mouth. I quickly woke my partner and we called the emergency vet who said bring her right in. Horrendously, she died enroute there. I feel so shocked. I feel traumatised that she suffered, or that I didn't call the vet sooner? I had no idea this could happen so suddenly. It's helped greatly to read other posts that your dogs can be OK one minute then deteriorate. I just wish I'd found this site beforehand. I wish I'd asked the vet more questions or called them sooner. I miss her so much.
Thank you for your post. It helped me answer a major question about how there can be a fast turn of events. Although our Pom (Piper) seemed to be stabilizing on meds at the age of 12, she had several episodes and we euthanized her before she got to the point of another episode. Still question if I should have waited and spent more time with her. She left us between my birthday, my sister's and our adopted daughter's birthday. I will always question my judgement but thank you for giving me some comfort by sharing your turn of events with your baby.
I'm so sorry for those of you struggling with hard decisions. One thing that you can look for to help you is the resting respiratory rate. Take it every night when your pet is sleeping. If you notice a trend where the pet is breathing faster and faster as time goes by, then they are probably getting fluid in their lungs and they need to be seen and have their medications adjusted. Hopefully doing this will help avoid a crisis situation.
My Jack Russell lived 16 years and 5 month.
He passed away January 12 at dawn.
Oliver was diagnosed by my vet with a murmur of 5 to 6 and was put on Lasix 10 mg x 2 a day. Having never been told this by his previous vet, I asked for an x-ray, I wanted a clearer image of his lungs and heart. The x-ray showed clear lungs and what the vet called a 12 for his heart. He kept him on 10 mg Lasix x 2 a day for 18 month. Oliver never coughed. His appetite was huge...untill the last afternoon of his life. He tried to eat, something seemed to bother him. That afternoon was the first time I heared him cough...18 month after the diagnosis...by evening his breathing became so fast and labored, he kept stretching his neck as far as it would go. I layed him next to me. By dawn he was still stretching his neck and breathing very fast. Then suddenly, he lowered his head against my chest and trying to breath, no air could reach his lungs, he died suffocating.
Trying to take him to the vet, late afternoon to dawn, no vet hours...the closest clinic, miles away :'(
I need closure on the way he died. He was diagnosed with HF, however for 18 month, no coughing.
In the morning I took my baby's little body to be cremated. The vet, without looking at Oliver's body, told me, he drowned on his own fluids...has anyone had this happen so quickly? I miss him more than I can say.
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Love doesn't have a thing to do with fancy schmancy breeding.
