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Originally Posted by Montalbano  I hope some day I can be of help to you my dear friends at Yorkietalk. Many of you have said that my Monte has many options and can still be with me for some years with the right meds and care. The love I have for him is abundant so there will be no shortage there. He is on 2.5 Enapril once a day and 10 mg CoQ 10 daily. He eats well and appears fine in every other way. Is it Ok to walk him since his heart is somewhat enlarged? He wants to walk and doesn't seem to pant or tire. He has more energy than his 64 years old Dad. He is eating Nutro dog food since birth and now I give him some boiled chicken, sweet potato and mashed carrots. He takes doggie vitamins as well. I took everyone's advice and picked up his records and X-rays from his vet and made contact with Oradell canine cardiologist here in NJ as everyone recommended. If you have anymore advice or info please let me know and remember him in your prayers. I am not feeling as hopeless since so many of you wonderful people have told me it's not the end of the road and with treatment we can come more time together. I hope some day I can return the love and concern you have all slowed me, and I will. Thank you all. Please let me know if walking one or. Twice daily is ok. He has no fluid in his lungs and his BPS was just fine. Blessings to you and your beloved babies! Anthony |
Anthony, I think you are wise to be cautious pending your appointment with the cardiologist. But, if Monte isn't having any shortness of breath, lethargy, fatigue, and his regular vet was not particularly worried, then I would not restrict him. I am seriously hoping that the regular vet's read on the xray was incorrect. As I mentioned, I had this experience when Barney was 6 years old. I'll tell you more about that...
I went to my vet because Barney had a cough and they took a chest xray. The vet felt the heart was enlarged, so sent the images and the case information for verification with a second vet who was boarded in internal medicine (not cardiology, which makes me mad now...). The information came back with this interpretation: "cardiomagaly with mitral valve endocardosis with left atrial enlargement. There is right ventricular enlargement suggestive of compensation to chronic pulmonary disease" -- this basically meant that they were saying Barney did have a large heart and that one of the left chambers of his heart was large and a right chamber was also large due to some pulmonary disease. They went on to say since he had no symptoms of heart disease and his blood pressure was normal, they did not want to medicate.
Two years following that information, it nagged at me....should I have him rechecked, what about his blood pressure, etc....... So I took him to a vet I trusted, who has long been the internal medicine specialist to my other more sickly dog Daisy. He was reassuring and I moved on..... but it always stayed in my head.
Then when Barney was 11.5, he tore his cruciate ligament and needed surgery to return his function. I was so scared about this heart issue and did not even want to do this. I talked to the surgeon about it, and he said, let's take another xray of the chest. He even said yes the heart looks enlarged!!! So I said that is it, I'm taking him to a cardiologist and finding out if he will be safe for anesthesia.
I took him to the dog cardiologist in Boston...... and the first things she said before even examining him was that there are many misdiagnoses from xrays. I didn't even have the xray with me, but she didn't care because she said the cardiac ultrasound was better. Guess what the conclusion was? She wrote this.... "The left atrium is normal side........The left ventricle is normal....The right atrium and left atrium is normal" and her interpretation was that he had "Chronic degenerative valvular disease without any secondary chamber enlargement" and went on to say that he was a good candidate for anesthesia. Since then, I have had many vets including specialists tell me that this kind of heart disease is an old dog thing....that the dogs die of old age before this heart disease gets them.
I am hoping that the same is true for Monte. But, even if he does have some kind of heart disease, the fact that he will have a cardiologist to take care of this is definitely better.
keep us posted after your visit!