Congestive Heart Failure

[volumnus]

My yorkie, Knox, will be 10 years old on November 2nd. He has always had breathing problems since he was a puppy, constantly snorting and snoring like a grizzly bear, but it never slowed him down. He has always been very active and playful. According to the vet, one of his nasal passages wasn't fully developed. He's a little guy. He probably also developed a mild case of collapsing trachea over the years. As an adult, Knox weighs 7.1 lbs. The vet said his weight is perfect, but he has gained a little since my wife moved in with us. She says he is part Asian because he loves her Philippine cooking. I have fed him Taste of the Wild Small Breed most of his life, but it's really hard to keep my mom and my wife from spoiling him. My wife and I don't have children, and he is my mom's only grandchild.



I walk him every evening after the sun goes down. About two weeks ago, I started to notice excessive panting. I shortened his walks. I just assumed he was getting old. Ten years old is said to be 70 years old in dog years. Then, last week, it got dramatically worse. He couldn't catch his breath, even when he slept. He was breathing 100 short shallow breaths per minute!


I took him to the vet. She did x-rays. The heart looked slightly enlarged, but she wasn't sure, so she gave him two shots, an antibiotic and a steroid. She gave me antihistamine pills to give him.



The next morning, I thought I was going to lose him. His was gasping to breathe. I rushed him to the emergency pet hospital. They redid all their own tests. It was discovered that he had fluid in his lungs as the result of congestive heart failure. They said the left side of his heart was not pumping out the fluid. They believe we caught it early and that it will be treatable to prolong his life.



They put him on Vetmedin and Lasix. They provided me a 14 day supply of both, and I ordered more from Chewy online. I was afraid he might run out before it arrives. Yesterday they gave him a shot of Lasix at the hospital. His breathing went down from 80 breaths per minute to around 40. I started him on Vetmedin pills as soon as I got home. They want him to take 1.25mg of Vetmedin every 12 hours and 3.125 mg of Lasix every 8 hours (1/4th of a standard 12.5mg Lasix pill). After three days, the bet wants me to reduce the Lasix to every 12 hours.


Knox was on death's doorstep yesterday morning. I thought I was going to lose him. This morning he was jumping off the bed (not using his stairs) and barking at squirrels and behaving almost like normal. I'm trying to make him rest. Imagine basically hyperventilating for two or three days. It would take a toll on anyone! He still gets short of breath very easily.


The vet wants me to do three main things to help him.

1. Give him the medications.
2. Exercise him appropriately based on his condition.
3. Lower his salt intake.


Do any of you guys have a suggestion for a low salt dog food? I'm going out dog food shopping today.



Knox.jpg

[nanajoy]

I do not have any suggestions, but want you to know that you will be in my thoughts. I am very happy that it looks like this was caught in time to be moderately reversible! Good luck with being able to keep your little Knox happy and well for time to come.

[matese]

I also do not have any food suggestions, Knox is a beautiful baby, I am happy to know his condition was caught in time and is being treated for it. Baby Knox will be kept in my thoughts and prayers.

[volumnus]

Knox is doing really well on the meds (Vetmedin and Lasix). The first couple of days he seemed a little nauseous. Now he is getting back to normal. I'm holding him back, but he is becoming playful and peppy again. He would love to play tug of war or chase the ball, but I'm not letting him yet. I've fed him Taste of the Wild his whole life, and it is one of the 16 dog foods linked to heart disease by the FDA.


https://www.akc.org/expert-advice/nu...ee-diet-alert/



However, he has also been spoiled with human food too, so his case is probably not very useful in proving anything one way or the other. From now on though, I'm going to make his dog food myself. My dad is an avid hunter, which is something I've never enjoyed. Knox, though, loves the wild turkey and deer meat my dad gives him. I grill it for him or cook it in the pressure cooker. I'm going to throw in some veggies and brown rice with the deer or turkey and make him some low sodium meals. He will eat it. He thinks its human food. He will only eat dog foot late at night after he is certain nobody is going to give him anything else. lol

[matese]

Originally Posted by volumnus

Knox is doing really well on the meds (Vetmedin and Lasix). The first couple of days he seemed a little nauseous. Now he is getting back to normal. I'm holding him back, but he is becoming playful and peppy again. He would love to play tug of war or chase the ball, but I'm not letting him yet. I've fed him Taste of the Wild his whole life, and it is one of the 16 dog foods linked to heart disease by the FDA.


https://www.akc.org/expert-advice/nu...ee-diet-alert/



However, he has also been spoiled with human food too, so his case is probably not very useful in proving anything one way or the other. From now on though, I'm going to make his dog food myself. My dad is an avid hunter, which is something I've never enjoyed. Knox, though, loves the wild turkey and deer meat my dad gives him. I grill it for him or cook it in the pressure cooker. I'm going to throw in some veggies and brown rice with the deer or turkey and make him some low sodium meals. He will eat it. He thinks its human food. He will only eat dog foot late at night after he is certain nobody is going to give him anything else. lol

Knox sounds like quite the lil character lol. Happy to hear he is doing better on the meds.

[Lovetodream88]

Originally Posted by volumnus

Knox is doing really well on the meds (Vetmedin and Lasix). The first couple of days he seemed a little nauseous. Now he is getting back to normal. I'm holding him back, but he is becoming playful and peppy again. He would love to play tug of war or chase the ball, but I'm not letting him yet. I've fed him Taste of the Wild his whole life, and it is one of the 16 dog foods linked to heart disease by the FDA.


https://www.akc.org/expert-advice/nu...ee-diet-alert/



However, he has also been spoiled with human food too, so his case is probably not very useful in proving anything one way or the other. From now on though, I'm going to make his dog food myself. My dad is an avid hunter, which is something I've never enjoyed. Knox, though, loves the wild turkey and deer meat my dad gives him. I grill it for him or cook it in the pressure cooker. I'm going to throw in some veggies and brown rice with the deer or turkey and make him some low sodium meals. He will eat it. He thinks its human food. He will only eat dog foot late at night after he is certain nobody is going to give him anything else. lol

The only issue with that is it won’t be balanced which can also cause the issues that the fdas list of dog foods where causing as well as other issues. You must have a balanced recipe. You can check out balanceit.com, petdiets.com or the diy at justfoodfordogs.com

[volumnus]

I'm a teacher. Knox waited until the day before my fall break to get really sick for the first time in his life. I took him to the vet that Thursday. The vet thought he had a sinus infection. She gave me three meds. He got worse. The next day I met my mom and my wife at the Emergency vet right after school. They diagnosed him with congestive heart failure. They gave us two meds. He got a little better and then worse. A few days later, I took him to a third vet. Two different certified cardiologists pronounced his heart healthy after doing echocardiograms. They concluded he had pulmonary hypertension, high blood pressure in his little lungs. The put him in an oxygen tank for a day and a half and threw the kitchen sink at him to treat possible infections. They told us he was getting better. My wife is a NiQ nurse. She has to keep three critical babies alive for 12 hours at a time. We had two oxygen bottles in the car when we took him out of the oxygen tank and brought him home. He fought his little butt off to live. He had to know he was loved. I have a sports car with only 12 thousand miles on it. I would have traded it without hesitation for another year with him. I would have rather had my house burn to the ground than lose my little boy.

My main regret is that I wasn't prepared. I constantly remind my high school students to be proactive. I didn't follow my own advice. When you love something this fiercely, you need to have a plan to protect it. I graduated from the University of Tennessee, Knoxville. They have one of the top vet schools in the nation. They have an emergency hospital that is open 24 hours a day. They have a whole department that specializes in small animals. They have pioneered new life-saving respiratory and cardiovascular stent surgeries. I should have know all of that! I should have taken him to UT months ago when I first noticed his snoring was getting worse and that he didn't have quite as much endurance. I just assumed he was just getting old like his daddy. I can't do what I used to be able to do either. He was getting close to 10 years old. I'm getting close to 50. I spent five thousand dollars, but his vets, who did the best they could, were not equipped save him. I believe Knox died of a collapsed trachea. He had about ten different x-rays over the last two weeks. They all showed a narrowing of the trachea, but nothing that would asphyxiate him, make his tongue turn purple, cause him to breathe 120 short, shallow breaths per minute. Except one. One of the x-rays shows a completely collapsed trachea. My vets had trouble sharing x-rays and records with each other. Each time I took him to a different place, I had to pay to have all new tests run. I live in Chattanooga, only an hour and 45 minutes from Knoxville. I go up for football and basketball games all the time. I named my dog Knox after Knoxville. If I could change one thing, I would have taken him there at the first sign of distress. I think they could have saved him. He had a boundless desire to live. Have a plan. Never take your baby for granted. Be proactive.

[volumnus]

I'm a teacher. Knox waited until the day before my fall break to get really sick for the first time in his life. I took him to the vet that Thursday. The vet thought he had a sinus infection. She gave me three meds. He got worse. The next day I met my mom and my wife at the Emergency vet right after school. They diagnosed him with congestive heart failure. They gave us two meds. He got a little better and then worse. A few days later, I took him to a third vet. Two different certified cardiologists pronounced his heart healthy after doing echocardiograms. They concluded he had pulmonary hypertension, high blood pressure in his little lungs. The put him in an oxygen tank for a day and a half and threw the kitchen sink at him to treat possible infections. They told us he was getting better. My wife is a NiQ nurse. She has to keep three critical babies alive for 12 hours at a time. We had two oxygen bottles in the car when we took him out of the oxygen tank and brought him home. He fought his little butt off to live. He had to know he was loved. I have a sports car with only 12 thousand miles on it. I would have traded it without hesitation for another year with him. I would have rather had my house burn to the ground than lose my little boy.

My main regret is that I wasn't prepared. I constantly remind my high school students to be proactive. I didn't follow my own advice. When you love something this fiercely, you need to have a plan to protect it. I graduated from the University of Tennessee, Knoxville. They have one of the top vet schools in the nation. They have an emergency hospital that is open 24 hours a day. They have a whole department that specializes in small animals. They have pioneered new life-saving respiratory and cardiovascular stent surgeries. I should have know all of that! I should have taken him to UT months ago when I first noticed his snoring was getting worse and that he didn't have quite as much endurance. I just assumed he was just getting old like his daddy. I can't do what I used to be able to do either. He was getting close to 10 years old. I'm getting close to 50. I spent five thousand dollars, but his vets, who did the best they could, were not equipped save him. I believe Knox died of a collapsed trachea. He had about ten different x-rays over the last two weeks. They all showed a narrowing of the trachea, but nothing that would asphyxiate him, make his tongue turn purple, cause him to breathe 120 short, shallow breaths per minute. Except one. One of the x-rays shows a completely collapsed trachea. My vets had trouble sharing x-rays and records with each other. Each time I took him to a different place, I had to pay to have all new tests run. I live in Chattanooga, only an hour and 45 minutes from Knoxville. I go up for football and basketball games all the time. I named my dog Knox after Knoxville. If I could change one thing, I would have taken him there at the first sign of distress. I think they could have saved him. He had a boundless desire to live. Have a plan. Never take your baby for granted. Be proactive.

[nanajoy]

My heart is breaking for you! Unfortunately, you are probably correct regarding the collapsed trachea. We lost our wonderful little Oz at only six years old on Mother's Day five years ago. He fought so hard, but once his trachea flattened there was no hope for a meaningful recovery. We chased several levels of medical care during his last day, and realized that our vet had not recognized the severity of his condition. It made our lives hell to know that we had not taken some of the little signs seriously enough.

I am so sorry for your loss, and for the feelings that you are going through. Please do not become lost in questioning yourself regarding "what ifs"...Know that little Knox loved you with all of his being. (((hugs)))

[matese]

I am so very sorry to hear Knox did not make it. You cannot beat yourself up over the what if's. We trust our vets ,we do what our vets tell us, we don't 2nd guess our vets. I would say 80% of YT members followed our vets advise, gave the meds our vet gave for our babies only to lose them. We all do and say the same thing, what if, I did when I lost my last baby. You did what all the vets advised you to do. My heart just bleeds for you and the pain you are going through with all those thoughts. Try to take comfort in knowing Knox is pain free, running and playing at Rainbow bridge waiting for his family (((HUGS)))

[Lovetodream88]

I’m so sorry for your loss.