Boxer Cardiomyopathy?

[beachboxers]

I am writing to see if I can get any feedback from those who have dealt with boxer CM. Here's my short story:

1:30 am Monday morning our boxer Jackson awoke us with a "thud" noise, we found him next to his bed lying on his side with stiff legs and urine next to him. At 10:00 pm that same night after he woke up from sleeping he walked upstairs and collapsed with the same results as before. We immediately got him to the emergency vet hospital where he stayed overnight and most of Tuesday. He underwent many tests was examined by a cardiologist and an internal medicine doctor. There diagnosis was a mild subaortic stenosis, and a mild aortic valve regurgitation. He also has a mild grade 2 heart murmur. However, they are treating him as they would a dog that has boxer cardiomyopathy. They started him on 80mg of Sota twice daily. After we got him home last night he seemed very tired but pretty normal. However, when we woke him up to go the bathroom he walked about the same distance and collapsed again. He had a similar occurence this morning, but there were no convulsions, just lied on his side, a couple mild grunts and then urinated. I contacted the vet again, so we are heading out this afternoon to get a Holter device. Wow! not to mention all this he also had his thyroid checked because he is losing his hair. Seems like a lot for a boxer not quite 5 years old.

If you have any similar stories, advice, or suggestions I would love to hear them. This is a really trying time, it is tough to watch.

Thanks

 

[courtney323]

Hi beachboxers -

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[sgbtab]

samson was diagnosis was CM and he was only 7 months at the time.:( he is also on solotol but his amount is much lower he only takes 40mg a day.
he is doing fine and is now 16 months old. I also give him heart at every feeding and he take L-caritine 250 mgs a day.
he no longer goes to the dog park he can not get neutered. ( I won't do elective surgery on him) but he does have a back yard and mattie to play with. I know that in the summer he has a much harder time recovering from any exersice(sp)
his holtor was very bad and the cardioglist could not believe he was still alive. I know that he may not grow old with me but the time he does have will be the best time of his life.
I feed raw and do believe that it helps with him. a healthy diet is something to consider. he goes for walks but only if the weather is good. otherwise he plays in the back yard. I am very aware of his illness and I try never to over do it. thank goodness he is a cuddle bug and is happy laying around the house.
here are some links to help with CM.


http://www.boxerunderground.com/apr_bu_99/dr.htm
http://www.boxergallery.com/articles/cardiomyopathy.htm
http://www.americanboxerclub.org/purina2.html
http://www.btca.com/Health/articles/HCdilatedcardio.htm
I hope these links help.

 

[beachboxers]

fainting

Does Samson have fainting attacks or does he collapse. This is all new to us and seems very coincidental that he has collapsed after he has been sleeping. I guess we are lucky as well, Jackson is a huge couch potato. He would rather be laying on someone's lap than anything else.

 

[sgbtab]

well the thing is that samson has what we call heart attacks. he has fainted 3 times but did not loose control of himself. the medicine should really help and I always felt that as long as I knew what he had I could help him.

 

[choppysmom]

My boxer Chopper,who is 1 year old was just diagnosed with cardiomyopathy 2 days before christmas.The reason we brought him in was his stomach was very distended. The regular vet automatically sent us to the cardiologist where they kept him over night. They ran several tests on him. That was the diagnoses that we recieved. He is on about 7 different medicines a day. He had only one of those attacks in 2 months. We brought him back to the vet and added diltazlm. He is doing very good right now. He does not know that he is sick. He can not run for long periods of time without getting tired, but other than that he is good. The vet gave him about 2-7 months. Every day I have with him is a blessing and I try to enjoy every moment. We send lots of prayers for your baby.