Tripawds Three Legged Dog & Cat Forum Archives

I made a post as well.  I can only speak to patients I've had with CHF and fluid build up and why medication to remove fluid is critical.  Any fluid retention due to cardiac disease needs to be removed.  

tazziedog said
A heart murmur is not a diagnosis of heart failure.  Did your vet take an xray? What matters is heart size and presence of fluid.  If the heart is enlarged then Vetmedin can really improve quality of life and extend survival times.  Dogs should always take an ACE inhibitor such as benazapril and if fluid then a diuretic such as furosemide.

Loudness of heart murmur does not always correlate with severity of disease.  Any dog with a heart murmur should have a baseline xray but meds are only need if the dog is symptomatic (coughing/exercise intolerance) or if there is fluid or enlargement.  Some dogs will have a murmur their entire lives and never progress to heart failure.

If you have a large/giant breed or other breed at high risk for cardiomyopathy (Boxer/Doberman/Bulldog) then an echocardiogram is helpful.

Pam  

Thanks for this Pam! This was what my thinking was with delaying her medications until we see our regular vet who has done previous heart check up’s. The verbal report from the new vet and our old vet from where we used to last year were very similar (grade 4, some crackling). She isn’t showing signs of exercise intolerance and does have a cough or two a day, but it’s the same times of day as she had last summer due to her trachea and dry air in the house. I mistakenly said her breathing rate was about 30 breaths per min when it’s actually around 20 (at rest) so I understand why the new vet has given us medications - I just wanted to get a diagnosis with the right info provided to the docs!

Her ECG/EKG results from before her amputation are also at the old vets, and an x-ray a few years ago at her rescue shelter, so really I thought the heart tests and an x-ray to confirm would be best.

Thanks Jackie! Fingers crossed