Congestive Heart Failure

[RECTEC]

This has been one of the roughest weeks of my life. I came home from an international vacation with my family (minus my first born) to find him not eating and emaciated. After some tests it was presented to me that he had developed Congestive Heart Failure. It was horrible... and the worst part is there is not much I can do to help, just trying to figure oit what is best for him, keep him comfortable, and not have to suffer. The vet put him on a blood pressure medication, lasix, and Vetmedin.

I was wondering if anyone is familiar with or has used Vetmedin for their boxer?

Also, the Ver recommended Hill's Prescription K/D, but I'm not sure I really love this dog food for him, but not sure what would offer some more protien and keep the sodium level low...

 

[Albie]

In 2005, my puppy Belle was diagnosed with dilated cardiomyopathy. One of the drugs the cardiologist put her one was Pimodendan (Vetmedin). At that time, this drug was not approved by the FDA and the cardiologist filled out a Compassionate Use Request through the FDA so she could obtain the drug from Canada. She told us that it was considered a "wonder drug" for treating congestive heart failure. Unfortunately, Belle was such a sick puppy and she wasn't able to realize any real benefit from the medication before she developed a large blood clot in her heart and we lost her. Regarding feeding, we had Belle on a raw diet and The Honest Kitchen dehydrated dog food which we added fresh meat and slices of raw heart to. We took Belle to a holistic vet who recommended a raw diet and the Honest Kitchen. She also told us to feed raw heart to her. In holistic medicine "like heals like" so for a heart condition you would feed heart. I don't know if any of these things helped, but we were desperate and willing to try anything.

 

[ELubas]

Sorry to hear about your pup :( My Fraze was on Vetmedin before he passed but he did not tolerate it well so I took him off. His last months were good without it but all dogs are different. I have read and been told that vetmedin is not the best drug for many pups.

Not sure if you are end stage (we were and knew it) so to be honest I let him eat all homecooked and raw-whatever I could get him to eat I fed him! Inappetance is very common with this disease so spoil him My Fraze would always eat organ meats, loved boiled hamburg, and loved chicken thighs-so that is what he got. To be honest he would not have eaten kibble the last year of his life for anything-he really needed to be coaxed so the smellier the better!

I wish you well with your boy and hope he has a good quality of life. Good luck.

 

[JCash]

This has been one of the roughest weeks of my life. I came home from an international vacation with my family (minus my first born) to find him not eating and emaciated. After some tests it was presented to me that he had developed Congestive Heart Failure. It was horrible... and the worst part is there is not much I can do to help, just trying to figure oit what is best for him, keep him comfortable, and not have to suffer. The vet put him on a blood pressure medication, lasix, and Vetmedin.

I was wondering if anyone is familiar with or has used Vetmedin for their boxer?

Also, the Ver recommended Hill's Prescription K/D, but I'm not sure I really love this dog food for him, but not sure what would offer some more protien and keep the sodium level low...

RECTEC, our boxer was on Vetmedin, lasix(sp?), soto, and a blood pressure medication. He had been having what we thought were seizures (mostly in the middle of the night) off and on for about 3 years. The soto worked initially but the seizures got progressively more frequent. He was diagnosed with congestive heart failure in February and was prescribed the vetmedin. We saw an immediate improvement. He acted like he was 3 yrs old again (he was actually 8). Last Friday, he had a great day, went for his walk, played with his toys, slept, ate, then unfortunately his heart just stopped - no warning, no apparent discomfort. Our experience was that the vetmedin worked well, but it was a bandaid for our dog. It would seem that if you can keep him on vetmedin, it really works well - but it's likely not a cure.