Layla diagnosed with Dialated Cardiomyopathy- Vetmedin Feedback?

[HBBoxerGirls]

The week before Thanksgiving Layla, our 5 year old girl developed a cough. Our vet thought it sounded like kennel cough, and prescribed an anti-biotic and cough meds. By the end of the week, the cough was better (probably because of the cough med), but she started acting lathargic, just stood around, was breathing very hard. By Sunday night she had become worse. Our vet met us at 8pm at his clinic and took a chest xray. Her lungs were full of fluid, and her heart appeared a little enlarged. She was having tachycardia. He immedately gave her an IV with Lasix and an ACE inhibitor, and had us drop her off the next morning. She spent the next couple of days at the clinic all day with IVs and being monitored. We would bring her home at night and give her oral Lasix and an ACE inhibitor/Benazepril. Her next chest xray showed improvement, and her lungs were much clearer. Unfortunately, the cardiologist was gone for the holidays, but was consulting our vet daily via phone. And he sent in a cardiac specific Ultrasound tech to do an ultrasound- which confirmed Dialated Cardiomyopathy.

The past weekend, she seemed to develop the cough again (now taking 25mg of Lasix orally - 3x per day). She spent Monday and Tuesday at the vets with IVs again. Tuesday night they sent her home with the following meds: Lasix (25mg, 3/day), Benazepril (10mg, 1/day), Spironolactone (12.5mg, 1/day) and Vetmedin (5mg, 2/day). The last couple of days she has shown marked improvement. She's not as lethargic, is eating food and treats, barking, playing a little with Luna (our 8 mo old Boxer girl), etc... She's sees the Cardiologist for anther Echo/ECG and perhaps a Holter this Tuesday morning.

I am hearing wonderful things particularly about the VETMEDIN - I'm wondering if anyone else has had a Boxer on this medication for Cardiomyopathy or Congestive Heart Failure and how their girls/boys responded to it. Any side effects? We have heard dogs can live years longer with heart issues such as Layla's on this medication. Which is VERY encouraging!!!

It is about $150/mo retail, so Layla's Cardiologist is contacting the Pharma Co to see if they will provide it at a discount for us. Regardless, anything for our girl if it helps her!

Thank you in advanced for any feedback!
Warm regards,
Layla, 5 yr old Fawn girl
Luna, 8 mo old Fawn girl

 

[HBBoxerGirls]

I also wanted to mention - Layla has never had any heart problems up to now. Not even a murmur - It just came up suddenly. Very scary!

 

[Cami]

So sorry to hear about your girls diagnosis.
I'm including a link to a thread concerning my girl Cami's heart issues and she was on Vetmedin along with multiple other medications.
It is a long post covering approx. 6 weeks of updates. It will take some time to get through but perhaps there is something in it you might find useful. I will also say that we lost her due to her heart issues so be prepared for that while you are reading.
http://www.boxerworld.com/forums/dog-health-issues-questions/148222-not-happy-new-year.html

 

[joshbradley]

Our Harley is a 6 yr old male who's had roughly 7 collapses since June 2010...4 this year alone.

He has not reached the point of CHF (Congestive Heart Failure) as of yet but does have Dilated Cardiomyopathy.

We started him on Sota in March of this year and he had a couple more collapsing episodes so we figured it was time to seek a second cardiologists opinion as we didn't really like our current one....We now make a 3 hour drive to Seattle for our current one.

He spent much time with us and suggested we get him on Vetmedin (even though he hadn't reached CHF) as the systolic function of the heart was very weak.

My wife and I are happy to report his resting breaths per minute has reduced quite a bit and seems to be much more consistent....Overall we are extremely happy with the Vetmedin. We have Petsecure pet insurance so 80% of the monthly cost is covered thankfully.

Here is a link to the most recent publicized study they have done on it (Vetmedin/Pimobendan).....This fits our Harley's situation as it was administered prior to the dog reaching a CHF state:
The latest findings from cardiology

 

[JCash]

Wishing Layla the best

i think it's good that you started your Layla on vetmedin early (as you indicated her heart was on slightly enlarged). It's a great medication. We saw no side effects from our boxer Joe after staring him on Vetmedin.

Joe started having fainting spells when he was about 5 years old. At first they were only about 6-8 months apart but as he got older, they became more frequent (once per every month or two). our vet diagnosed him with cardiomyopathy after his first fainting spell and prescribed soto. That worked great for a couple of years. In march of this year (he was 8 yrs old), he was diagnosed with Congestive heart failure and we started him on vetmedin and a couple of other meds. We saw an immediate improvement (within a day or so). He behaved like a new dog for about 4 months. In July, he was walking through the house and his heart finally stopped very suddenly with no warning. Joe's heart was severely enlarged. I know this is a sad tale, but i think the earlier you catch this and start the right meds, the better chance you have to enjoy much more time with Layla.

 

[MomtoMaggie]

vetmedin

Hi,


I'm so sorry to hear of the diagnosis. A year ago Nov my Maggie was found to have some mild valve degeneration and then a holter monitor showed arrhythmias. She was put on sota for that and a holter showed arrythmias under control. She went into renal failure in Feb and receives sub/q fluids. Back in late Aug she experienced fluid overload and her heart was very enlarged. She was not in CHF, but the cardio believes she is suffering with boxer cardiomyopathy. She started Maggie on vetmedin and two weeks later we did a follow up echocardiogram. The cardio was stunned by the improvement in her heart. We just went back Nov 5th for another recheck as she needed fluids for her kidneys again. This echo showed even more improvement, so much so that only one side of her heart is still enlarged and it's now classified as mildly enlarged compared to originally declared severely. Our cardio also started her on l-carnitine and had me double her taurine dose. The vetmedin is suspected to be one of the big players in the significant improvement. She's even able to tolerate some sub/q fluids again.

Vetmedin helps the heart beat stronger, so this lessens the blood and fluid collecting in a weaker heart. Keep a close eye on the kidney values with the lasix.

The most inexpensive source I've found for the vetmedin is through thrivingpets.com It's $59.99 for 50 of the 5 mg chewable tablets. If you enter code K9K they give a 10% discount and free shipping on orders over $65 so I buy two bottles at a time. Maggie gets 7 1/2 mg twice a day, so two of these lasts 33 days.

Boxer hugs and kisses,

Heather, mom to
Maggie/boxer/65 lbs/11+ yrs/ CKD, chronic pancreatitis, hypothyroidism, arthritis, arrhythmia controlled by sota, adult onset epilepsy, likely IBD and now a heart condition suspected to be ARVC or DCM
&
Gabby/boxer/70 lbs/10 1/2 mos/ crazy puppy syndrome
Orange County, CA

 

[MomtoMaggie]

Cami

So sorry to hear about your girls diagnosis.
I'm including a link to a thread concerning my girl Cami's heart issues and she was on Vetmedin along with multiple other medications.
It is a long post covering approx. 6 weeks of updates. It will take some time to get through but perhaps there is something in it you might find useful. I will also say that we lost her due to her heart issues so be prepared for that while you are reading.
http://www.boxerworld.com/forums/dog-health-issues-questions/148222-not-happy-new-year.html

Hi Susan,

I spent half an afternoon reading Cami's story the week Maggie's first negative echo was performed. Although I was in tears throughout as I knew the end before starting at the beginning, your love for her was so inspiring. I felt like I knew your girl that day. I'm so sorry for your loss.

Boxer hugs and kisses,

Heather, mom to
Maggie/boxer/65 lbs/11+ yrs/ CKD, chronic pancreatitis, hypothyroidism, arthritis, arrhythmia controlled by sota, adult onset epilepsy, likely IBD and now a heart condition suspected to be ARVC or DCM
&
Gabby/boxer/70 lbs/10 1/2 mos/crazy puppy syndrome
Orange County, CA

 

[MomtoMaggie]

Mark Oyama ARVC expert

The week before Thanksgiving Layla, our 5 year old girl developed a cough. Our vet thought it sounded like kennel cough, and prescribed an anti-biotic and cough meds. By the end of the week, the cough was better (probably because of the cough med), but she started acting lathargic, just stood around, was breathing very hard. By Sunday night she had become worse. Our vet met us at 8pm at his clinic and took a chest xray. Her lungs were full of fluid, and her heart appeared a little enlarged. She was having tachycardia. He immedately gave her an IV with Lasix and an ACE inhibitor, and had us drop her off the next morning. She spent the next couple of days at the clinic all day with IVs and being monitored. We would bring her home at night and give her oral Lasix and an ACE inhibitor/Benazepril. Her next chest xray showed improvement, and her lungs were much clearer. Unfortunately, the cardiologist was gone for the holidays, but was consulting our vet daily via phone. And he sent in a cardiac specific Ultrasound tech to do an ultrasound- which confirmed Dialated Cardiomyopathy.

The past weekend, she seemed to develop the cough again (now taking 25mg of Lasix orally - 3x per day). She spent Monday and Tuesday at the vets with IVs again. Tuesday night they sent her home with the following meds: Lasix (25mg, 3/day), Benazepril (10mg, 1/day), Spironolactone (12.5mg, 1/day) and Vetmedin (5mg, 2/day). The last couple of days she has shown marked improvement. She's not as lethargic, is eating food and treats, barking, playing a little with Luna (our 8 mo old Boxer girl), etc... She's sees the Cardiologist for anther Echo/ECG and perhaps a Holter this Tuesday morning.

I am hearing wonderful things particularly about the VETMEDIN - I'm wondering if anyone else has had a Boxer on this medication for Cardiomyopathy or Congestive Heart Failure and how their girls/boys responded to it. Any side effects? We have heard dogs can live years longer with heart issues such as Layla's on this medication. Which is VERY encouraging!!!

It is about $150/mo retail, so Layla's Cardiologist is contacting the Pharma Co to see if they will provide it at a discount for us. Regardless, anything for our girl if it helps her!

Thank you in advanced for any feedback!
Warm regards,
Layla, 5 yr old Fawn girl
Luna, 8 mo old Fawn girl

Someone on my CHF group sent me a link to this session that Mark Oyama gave at a conference earlier this year. The session was titled Knock Out ARVC in Boxer Dogs. I paid the $20 buy the session and printed out the powerpoint and listened to the session 3 times taking notes. I sure learned a lot from this session. It was suspected at one time that l-carnitine deficiency played a role, but apparently this is very rare. The most important thing I can share is the value of fish oil for boxer cardiomyopathy. I don't recall the specifics, but the studies showed that higher doses really help. At the same time that I started the vetmedin, I also tripled Maggie's fish oil dose. She was getting 2 nordic naturals capsules per day, but based on her 65 lbs or so, I upped it to 6 capsules per day. I just threw out my power point notes last week and can't seem to find it on my pc now either, otherwise I would be able to give more specifics on what they found with the higher doses of omega 3's.

Boxer hugs and kisses,

Heather, mom to
Maggie/boxer/65 lbs/11+ yrs/ CKD, chronic pancreatitis, hypothyroidism, arthritis, arrhythmia controlled by sota, adult onset epilepsy, likely IBD and now a heart condition suspected to be ARVC or DCM
&
Gabby/boxer/70 lbs/10 1/2 mos/crazy puppy syndrome
Orange County, CA

 

[HBBoxerGirls]

Thank you all!

Thank you all for the very useful feedback, very informative links and your personal stories and experiences! My heart goes out to those that have lost their fur-babies to this horrible condition. It is so difficult to see our girls/boys suffer like this.

I am definiately encourage by the positive results so many have had with Vetmedin! Thank you!!! I will definately look further into the Fish Oil recommendation. I'll try googling the webinar online...

Layla saw the Cardiologist on Tuesday of this week. Her official diagnosis is Dialated Cardiomyopathy with ARVC. They have doubled her daily Vetamedin and Spironolactone doses, tripled her Lasix and the Benazerpril dose is still 10mg per day. He said she definiately showed improvement with her ECG, Chest exam and Echo - which we was very encoraged by (as am I). She goes back again in 2 weeks. They also checked her Kidney function, which came back normal. I understand this is something we will have to continue to monitor.

She definiately has noticable improvement - she actually wrestled a little with our Boxer puppy - Luna! A great sign. She still looks very thin to me, but her appetite has increased and she ate her entire dinner. Hopfully, she will continue to improve and respond well to the meds - particularly the Vetmedin. Our Cardiologist called it a "wonder-drug"!

(Thank you as well for the link to thrivingpets.com)

Thank you again all!
Warm regards,
Heather Childs
Layla, 5 year old Fawn Boxer female
Luna, 8 month old Fawn Boxer female

 

[HBBoxerGirls]

Mark Oyama

Someone on my CHF group sent me a link to this session that Mark Oyama gave at a conference earlier this year. The session was titled Knock Out ARVC in Boxer Dogs. I paid the $20 buy the session and printed out the powerpoint and listened to the session 3 times taking notes. I sure learned a lot from this session. It was suspected at one time that l-carnitine deficiency played a role, but apparently this is very rare. The most important thing I can share is the value of fish oil for boxer cardiomyopathy. I don't recall the specifics, but the studies showed that higher doses really help. At the same time that I started the vetmedin, I also tripled Maggie's fish oil dose. She was getting 2 nordic naturals capsules per day, but based on her 65 lbs or so, I upped it to 6 capsules per day. I just threw out my power point notes last week and can't seem to find it on my pc now either, otherwise I would be able to give more specifics on what they found with the higher doses of omega 3's.

Boxer hugs and kisses,

Heather, mom to
Maggie/boxer/65 lbs/11+ yrs/ CKD, chronic pancreatitis, hypothyroidism, arthritis, arrhythmia controlled by sota, adult onset epilepsy, likely IBD and now a heart condition suspected to be ARVC or DCM
&
Gabby/boxer/70 lbs/10 1/2 mos/crazy puppy syndrome
Orange County, CA

Hi Heather,

Thank you for the information. I googled Mark Oyama and was able to find the link to the conference he spoke at this year. Unfortunately, the links to the session and powerpoint are no longer there. He is apparently on the Faculty at University of Penn - Professor, Department of Clinical Studies - Philadelphia. They had his contact information, so I have reached out to him directly for more information. Thank you again!!!!

Warm regards,
Heather, Layla (5 yr Boxer female) & Luna (8 mo Boxer female)