Congestive Heart Failure - Critical

[Albie]

Our puppy Belle is at the Emergency Clinic right now, and her prognosis is not good. I took her to our vet this morning after she started vomiting during the night, and then began breathing heavily. The vet said she was in congestive heart failure. Our vet tried to stabilize her with Lidocaine, but Belle did not respond. We then transferred her to the Emergency Clinic so that they could start some other therapies since they could consult with a cardiologist and proceed under her direction. The vet at the emergency clinic is very concerned about her, and Belle is extremely critical right now. He believes that she was born with some sort of congential heart defect, and that has led to the congestive heart failure. The next 24 hours are critical, but even if she does pull through, we are not looking at a cure for her, but only managing her symptoms for as long as we can. Needless to say, our entire family is devistated. We are having a tough time coming to terms with the healthy happy puppy we know and love and what has transpired over the last 12 hours. Please keep Belle in your prayers.

 

[gmacleod]

I'm very sorry to hear about Belle. How tragic. She'll be in my thoughts - hoping she can get through this!

 

[hanley]

So sorry about your pup,I've had this in 2 of my dogs,but they were old when it happened to them.Keeping you in our prayers.Hanley

 

[chegirl]

Belle

So sorry to hear about your pup-it's horrible to see a dog so helpless. We have also lost one to congestive heart failure at 4 years old.

 

[Austin's Mom]

I'm so very sorry about Belle being sick. Keeping her (and you & your family) in my thoughts and prayers. Please keep us updated.

 

[kaseyangel]

so sorry about your baby, it seems so unfair. i really hope she comes through. please keep us informed on her progress. our thoughts are with you.

 

[debbie knowles]

I am so sorry...I will certainly keep all of you in my thoughts and prayers.

 

[geordiegirls]

congestive heart failure

So sorry to hear about Belle. We are going through similar with our 13 months old puppy Ruby so I know how you are feeling. Her symptoms started over xmas with a cough & rapid weight loss our vet told us she had kennel cough & gave her antibiotics. On 4th Jan still no better and her stomach swelled right up and she had real trouble breathing. Took her back & saw a different vet who took one look at her & referred us to the cardiologist. He had her all day & did various tests, scans & xrays told us she has cardiomyopathy very unusual in such a young dog. He prescribed a cocktail of tablets twice daily & said the next few days were critical but didn't hold out much hope. For two days we sat & watched her just lying on the sofa. We slept downstairs with her & I had to keep lifting her down and taking her out for wee's as she was so weak. We had to take her back to see the specialist on the saturday and to be quite honest by friday morning I was hoping she would just go quietly in her sleep & end her suffering as she was so poorly. On the friday afternoon it was as if the medication just kicked in and she suddenly sprang to life again, we were amazed and so was the specialist when we took her back on the saturday. She has continued to make good progress but we know that her prognosis is poor and we won't have her very long. Our priority is to keep her quality of life as good as we possibly can for as long as we can. I hope you don't mind me waffling on but it is good to talk to someone who understands what we have been feeling. Please don't give up hope I'm sure all the extra love & cuddles (& tears!) have helped bring Ruby back to us (as all boxer people know they just love to please their families). So every extra day is a bonus. Send me a p.m. if you need to talk

julia x

 

[Albie]

Thanks so much for all of the thoughts and prayers. Julia-- I'm happy to hear that Ruby is holding her own. That shows that things aren't always as bleak as we are led to believe. The whole family is in an emotional state and we are having a hard time dealing with this. I spoke with the emergency vet, and they were finally able to stabilize Belle. For most of the day her heart rate was over 260 and she was in something called ventricular tachycardia. They used several doses of lidocaine and she didn't respond. Another thing they tried was a magnesium infusion and she didn't respond. Finally, they tried a drug called procainamide and this is what she responded to. She is now on an IV infusion of this drug and her heart rate is down to 150 and her breathing is less labored. I felt so relieved that her condition seemed to stabilize, but the vet is still not optimistic. I just keep hoping that somehow her condition is not as serious as they think, and that we will be able to bring her home. She really deserves to be back in our arms so we can show her how much we love her.

 

[BeckyNC]

Georgia--I'm so sorry to hear such difficult news about Belle. She's a beautiful girl.

Is the diagnosis still congestive heart failure? Once they get her fully stabilized, she might be able to live for a while on medication. This may sound cheezy, but I work in clinical research and we are doing a congestive heart failure study (on humans, of course) and the patients are able to live for a while, though there are occasional ups and downs.

Regarding ventricularly tachycardia, the husband of one of my work friends actually had a very similar episode last month. The doctors had difficulty slowing down his heart, as well, and finally had to shock it back into a normal rhythm--all very scary, but he is back to normal now.

I'll keep your girl in my thoughts.