Enlarged heart following kennel cough vaccine?
 

My 4 year old yorkie Shmoo got the kennel cough vaccine (bordatella) because he was being boarded while we were away. After getting the vaccine he contracted the kennel cough. After a month and half of 3 medications it still wasn't getting better and he was coughing. We took him back to the vet and we did x-rays, only to find out he had an enlarged heart. :( I was just wondering if this has happened to anyone else's yorkie/dog? It just seems so coincidental that the enlarged heart came after the vaccine (because he never coughed before the vaccine, and now the vet says that he's coughing because the enlarged heart is pushing on his tracea). I feel there is some correlation between the two. I found a blog about a collie and the owner stated the same thing as me.. opinions? :(

I am so sorry that your little Yorkie has an enlarged heart. What are they doing for him? Is your vet calling it congestive heart failure? When I boarded my Pommie, Snowboy, and Chipper they had to have the Bordetella vaccination, too. Snowboy got Kennel Cough as a result. He did get over it but no enlarged heart. Hugs and smooches to your little Shmoo.

He may not have an enlarged heart...and sometimes the cough from KC lingers a long time.The medications you were given ...are a preventive against pneumonia and not a treatment for the illness.

My Reese was misdiagnosed with an enlarged heart by a ER vet examining his chest x ray. I made an appointment with a cardiologist who explained regular vets compare heart size to a picture diagram...and yorkies as a breed have larger hearts. After an ultrasound...it was determined Reese's heart was fine.

If your yorkie had an enlarged heart causing a cough...there would be other symptoms present. I urge you to seek out a specialist.

:thumbup:

What other symptoms are there to an enlarged heart that I would see/notice?

Right now they are giving him Enalipril for his heart.. they checked for heartworm and that came out negative. The vet said there's nothing we can do but monitor him closely :(

Let me ask you...describe how your puppy acts?

A puppy who's heart is so enlarged it causes coughing...is generally lethargic or tired all the time, gets winded easily, and has trouble breathing.

I really urge you to see a cardiologist. If he has an enlarged heart...that is who needs to be treating him any way.

This condition is rare in small breed dogs.

Find a cardiologist who can properly diagnose your dog....and ease your mind.

Here's a link to cardiologists...scroll down the page for the list.

Board Certified Veterinary Cardiologists

My appointment and an ultrasound for Reese cost $225. Best money I ever spent.

Shmoo is still very playful.. he still coughs but only when he gets too excited. At night he sometimes snores and coughs as well. He was more tired when we put him on the enalipril but now he seems just fine (with the occasional cough). He loves to go on long walks still, play, and run around the yard. He only likes soft food now and I feel he eats less than he did before the whole kennel cough ordeal.

Thank you for the cardiologist information, I will definitely look into that :)

That cough could still very well be the kennel cough....it can take months to clear up entirely. The other you describe...doesn't fit a dog in "heart failure".

I really hate to see him being treated with medications for something he may not have...not to mention how much it worry it causes YOU.

Btw, mine would prefer "soft" food all the time themselves. :)

Kennel cough vaccine
 

Hello Yorkie lovers!
I was reading about Schmoo getting kennel cough after a vaccine for Bordatella and the same thing happened to my dog Chipper.
He has been so healthy for 5 years and then came down with kennel cough 2 days after the vaccine was given. He has been sick for 2 months now. The coughing is better but he still does it. I took him in to the vet and an xray showed an enlarged heart!! Could this have been caused by the vaccine? He has NEVER showed any signs of heart disease and the vet has always given him a clean bill of health. Every time he listened to him he said he sounded great. Now he has an enlarged heart and coughing. This just is too coincidental. Has anyone else had this experience? :mad:

Enlarged Heart following Vaccine here too.
 

Three weeks ago, we had our Yorkie Tucker Vaccinated for bordetella. Took him to the vet for increased "honking" or "coughing." An X-Ray later, we are told he has an enlarged heart.

He has a Collapsing Trachea, and we thought that the high stress 4th of July weekend aggravated his Trachea, but it seems very odd that the bordetella vaccine is a common ingredient to the Enlarged Heart Diagnosis.

This is just terrible what has happened to your dogs! It seems common that the vaccine gives the disease. Wow. I will pray for you guys and your dogs. I am so sorry to hear about all this.:(

I would urge each of you who has had your doggie diagnosed with an enlarged heart after the bordatella vaccination to take in consideration what Bchgirl and Ellie May have said. ~Joanne~

For those whose dogs were told the heart was enlarged? Can you tell us what Bordetella vaccine was used? I'm wondering if this shouldn't be reported so vets can tell patients that enlarged heart is a possible reaction to the vaccine. Like the company that makes them.

Concern about Bordatella vaccine
 

Hello. I am wondering if there is a common thread here with our little babies being diagnosed with enlarged heart after bordatella vaccine.
Is there a problem with the vaccine itself? Or just a problem being given nasally to our little babies.
My Chipper was given the vaccine through the nose. The vet said no dosing required. Same dose for all dogs!! Live vaccine.
We need to find out if the same vaccine was given to all the affected dogs.
And find out if it was the same vaccine manufacturer. I did call my vet to get the name of vaccine maker and lot number.

Any thoughts out there? This is too coincidental. I do not want any other little yorkies getting sick out there if I can stop it. :(My Chipper has been through alot! He is still the cutest little guy though....:)

I went through the SAME thing w/Momo!!
 

We had him vaccinated w/bordatella when he was only 8wks old cuz he came to me from his breeder already sick w/kennel cough. He suffered through it for 3 months. The only thing that worked was upping the dose of antibiotics (Clavamox) to 5ml from 1ml.
We did 3 rounds of antibiotics, many medications including Hydrocodone, 3 different vets & 1 specialist because an x-ray indicated that he had an enlarged heart.:( He had an echocardiogram, it's like a sonogram of the heart. According to that test, he was ok.
I didn't read through all the posts of the op, but I hope your baby has a speedy recovery.

Read the post above yours from me. We must think alike

I had a Jack Russell Terrier that got the bordatella vaccine regularly and he died of an enlarged heart and congestive heart failure. I will definately think twice before I give it to my precious Yorkie and other two JRT's.:mad:

kennel cough vacine
 

I too feel there's a problem with the bordatello vacine given intranasally. I had my yorkie almost three months & he never coughed. After he was given the vacine he started coughing. He was given an antibiotic but now seven months later he still coughs at times. The vet said it was coincidental but I do not agree. I do intend to pursue it further. As I stated he NEVER COUGHED before then.

I'm so sorry about your baby. Prayers that he gets better.

When my dog had that shot his kidneys failed, doing okay with that. Now he has other medical issues, cancer and stroke but he is doing pretty good.

Okay now I am worried, I posted about it a lil bit ago.. Shay has been what I thought gagging, maybe it is a cough? he had the vaccine for kennel cough on thurs. he also had distemper shot...he never had any of this before...
I will be calling the vet in the morning...he came in with it and never even was going to tell me what he was giving him,I of coarse stopped him and asked, I wish I would of read this all before we went on thurs.

Mine had those vaccines and never had enlarged heart . I don't even think its the vaccine that cause enlarged heart . He or she might have it before and it was not diagnosed .

The vaccine is not causing an enlarged heart. That is a congenital condition. They are born with it, it worsens as they grow and some are diagnosed earlier than others.

Don't rely on a regular vet for the diagnosis...they need to be seen by a cardiologist and if they do indeed have this condition...that's who needs to be treating them any way.

Hi all -

I haven't been here in a while but checked in today to read up on enlarged heart diagnosis. I was stunned to see this old thread as it is exactly what has happened to Joni.

Took her to vet for bordetella vaccine. They assured me it was not the nasal spray, but an oral medication. Within 2 days Joni was coughing violently and sick. This was over a month ago. Earlier this week, she had a chest X-ray to look for pneumonia at which time the vet said her heart was enlarged. She suggested an echo with a cardiologist once Joni has the cough settled.
Two issues:
1- can't even speak to how frustrated (and angry) I am over this bordetella vaccination. I should have never given it to her as she's never boarded and we have a mobile groomer. But she is around another dog or two every so often and she revels in full face smelling of every tree, shrub, post along our walks so I thought it might be helpful. Never really expected her to develop bordetella from the vaccine but I'm convinced that it happened. She's been sick for a month.
2- no murmur and no other indication of heart disease. She will be 3 next month. I am praying that as others have said, the X-ray read by my vet was not accurate - shadows or whatever. She showed it too me and my first (very non-medical) reaction was that her heart filled her entire rib cage! The vet had a radiologist read it as well and he said the left atrium was prominent and bigger than he expected to see given no murmur. They both said the trachea was narrowed but not collapsed and this may be putting pressure on the airway contributing to the cough. He too recommended an echo by a cardiologist.

So a perfectly healthy baby 5 weeks ago is now sick with bordetella and potentially diagnosed with enlarged heart and trachea issues. I'm just sick about this. Will never allow bordetella vaccine again! Is there a connection in all of this?

Max got the nasal vaccination for kennel cough. Vet said might sneeze for a day or two. He coughed and sneezed for a month. Had to go on antibiotics as a preventative too! Thought next time he'll get the shot but maybe not?

It's not uncommon at all for dogs to contract kennel cough from getting the kennel cough vaccine itself - this is very well known. The most important thing is to not let it progress to pneumonia.

I'm so sorry about the enlarged heart, but this may not end up really affecting her at all in the long run. Several yorkies get diagnosed w/ an "enlarged heart" when in the end, it wasn't really enlarged at all.

I wouldn't be getting the bordetella vaccine at all, if I were you. It's not a core vaccine - not necessary. So if your dog is sensitive to it, I wouldn't get it. I've never gotten it for any of my 4 dogs and they've never, ever gotten kennel cough, btw.

GiGi, who is now 14.5 years old, had been diagnosed with an enlarged heart when she was about 4yrs old. This came from her Vet who xray ed her for another unrelated issue. I told her breeder about it and she said all Yorkies have enlarged hearts and not to.worry. As I said she is now almost 15 and doing fine. Last summer we had to see an internist for her diet. He xrayed her also...I mentioned the enlarged heart , at first he said he did not see it so he brought up the xray so we could both look and said that one side of her heart appears to be enlarged.
But you see this was even difficult for him to see. And also GiGi is now back track with her diet and happly on her way to her 15th and hopefully not her last year and doing great.

I would start with your babies breeder and go.from there. GiGi was never on any meds for her heart and is not now.

Hope this helped you...keep us updated
Christine

I would not worry that the x-ray showed an enlarged heart as it is common for small dogs to appear to have an enlarged heart on x-ray, but when sent to a cardiologist it's normal. I once had a cardiologist tell me this very thing. Not saying not to go to a cardio but saying it's most likely not enlarged.