Dog heart murmur?

Question

I have adopted a dog who have the last stage of heart mur mur, i did not have much information of his history except that he had stay in a pet hotel for a year & he had suffer from kennel cough once. His owner & foster is not aware of his illness until i adopted him. He is an active dog & eat a lot. in fact more than he should so its not noticeable that he is not well except from coughing which they thought is normal. i have spend thousand of dollar but none vet could do anything to improve or stablize him. From Dec till now, he have been in & out of hospital every week. Usually is fluid in lungs, usually they increase the dosage of lasix, or fluid outside lungs which they will use an absortion pad n place at his body. oNce they got to drain out the fluid. I was told that his heart size is very big now which causing him difficult in breathing. There is no improvement or even stablize from any vet i went. Recently they suspect that he have a sensitive throat & might be suffering from asthma. Now he relying of lasix which im aware too much of it will damage his kidney. once he was given 3/4 tablet 3 times a day, recently my vet had change his medical after taken over by another vet.

Previously (2 weeks ago)
1) Norvasc 5mg 1/8 tablet once daily
2) lanoxin 0.0625 1/2 tablet twice daily
3) Atenolol 50mg 1/8 tablet twice daily
4) lasix 40mg 3/4 tablet 3 times daily
5) Forterkor 5mg 1/2 tablet once daily
6) Vetmedin 2.5mg 1/2 capsule twice daily

Now (from 1 week ago)
1) Norvasc 5mg 1/8 tablet once daily
2) vibravet 100mg 3/4 tablet twice daily
3) Atenolol 50mg 1/8 tablet twice daily
4) lasix 40mg 1/4 tablet twice daily
5) Forterkor 1/2 tablet once daily
6) Vetmedin 2.5mg 1/2 capsule twice daily
7) Theophylline 250mg 1/4 tablet twice daily

No improvement still from my dog, please advise which should be done or its there any specialize vet in heart mur mur in singapore

Answer 1

These problems are not being caused by the murmur itself. It sounds like your dog is suffering from heart failure and the murmur is simply just another clinical sign of that heart failure. You are doing alot to treat his condition, but unfortunately, there is no cure for heart disease. Ask your vet about cardiologists in your area. Has he ever had an ultrasound? If not, you can consider having one done. That is the best way for the vet to determine the extent of your dog's heart condition and heart function.

Answer 2

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Answer 3

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Answer 4

It sounds like everything that can be done has been done. Your dog is on every available med for hearts I think!

From what you've said, the problem isn't just the heart murmur, it's the cardiomegaly (enlarged heart). The only management for this is either meds, or a heart transplant. As far as I know, there has only been one successful heart transplant in the world in a cat, and I haven't heard about dogs but imagine there's been at least one. Obviously it would cost an obscene amount of money.

You should talk to your vet about possible further treatment - after all they've done well by you so far! You won't get any better answers from Yahoo I'm afraid.

Ask your vet about what further treatment is available if necessary. No one on here is in a position to tell you what can be done for your dog, we haven't examined him and we don't know the case! (and there are hardly any professionals on here, if any)

Good luck

Chalice

Answer 5

I don't think that the enlarged heart is caused by a heart murmur. Sounds like your dog has end stage heart disease. I doubt that much can be done to correct that besides a heart transplant. Comfort measures will be his best chance now.

I take it that it has just been l week since the new vet visit. Give the medicines time to work first. Once the heart is enlarged one cannot correct it.

I feel bad for you and your dog. It is obvious that you care for him very much. He is very lucky that you adopted him.

Answer 6

I don't think your dog has a heart murmur.. Sounds dialated cardiomyopathy.

Take a look here

http://www.ovc.uoguelph.ca/ClinStudies/ogrady/holter/holterfaqs.htm