boxer heart problems, and zeus' murmur
I have had two boxers since they were tiny babies. Eric, my boy boxer, was diagnosed with a murmur when he was a baby,and the vet said just watch it,he might grow out of it. The murmur gave him no problems until late in his life. When he was about 8 and a half years old, he suddenly filled up with fluid in his abdomen. We went to the vet, and he was diagnosed with tachacardia arythmia (I killed the spelling on this!) and dialated cardio myopathy. (He had two serious problems- an irregular heart beat, and an enlarged heart.) He was on a bunch of medications and he perioically had to have the fluid drained from his belly. He had a pretty good quality of life for the rest of his life and lived another six months. The day he died, his heart just stopped and he died in my arms, while I was telling him what a good boy he was and not to be afraid.He had just given me a little kiss as though he were saying goodbye. You really can't prevent heart problems with anything from the health food store. You just have to go regularly to the vet, and if the symptoms show up, you have to treat them with heavy duty pharmacuticals. I think it happens more with the males.The other boxer, Johaan, that a friend of mine had, also had an irregular heartbeat, and he was on medication as well. He was stable and had a great quality life, but eventually, died from it suddenly at the age of 7.
My Ginger, Eric's sister, is almost 13 years old (May 11)She has no heart problems, but has an aggressive form of cancer (mycosis fungoids.) It was diagnosed on October 18th, and I have been treating it with Prednisone, and she has had one dose of CCNU (a chemotherapy drug) which appears to have put it into remission. They are the sweetest dogs in the world, but are prone to cancer and heart problems.