Figures!
Hi Guys!
Thanks again for the well wishes.
Now as we all know, being a boxer owner is full of surprises, so wouldn't you know that one day after she was diagnosed as cancer-free, she went and had a heart attack! She fell out with rapid breathing, lost control of her urine, etc., but by the time I grabbed some friends to help me carry her out to the car (about 5 minutes), she was sitting up (a little dazed) looking at me like "what's your problem?"
Well, I didn't want to take a chance, so I took her to the vet anyway and it's a good thing I did because while we were there, it happened again. No urine loss, but she had rapid breathing, pale gums, and collapsed. The vet rushed her to the back, gave her some oxygen and lidocaine drip, and came back out and told me that her heart was racing at 300 bpm at some points. He called her cardiologist and they conferred on things. They got her stabilized finally (it took all day, I took her at 9 am, she came home at 7 pm), and prescribed a new medication to use with the sota
called mexitil. It controls arrythmias. She's been on it for about 3 days now and she hasn't had any bouts of rapid breathing, but she shakes a lot and acts odd. She gets both meds (sota, 80mg twice a day and mexitil, 200mg. 3 times a day) now and I don't like it. I'm someone that doesn't even use aspirin. But I want to help her. The doctor said that she may be able to be weaned off the mexitil, so we'll see. I don't like some of the side effects of the drug, one of which is death from cardiac arrest! so i want her off it as soon as possible. All i can say in consolation is that she's not breathing as rapidly and when i listen to her heart with a stethoscope, the beats are slower, though still erratic. Any one have any experiences with this drug? Even my vet says he's not familiar with it, but the cardiologist is, so....I have a call into him today. Oh, and I found out that she doesn't have true cardiomyopathy. She just has symptoms of it. I think her real problem is just arrythmia.
So anyway, I'm watching her like a hawk and taking notes contantly, so hopefully, we can tweak the meds and get her feeling as close to normal as possible.
Feel free to email with any info.
Thanks again and take care,
Tanya
Hi Guys!
Thanks again for the well wishes.
Now as we all know, being a boxer owner is full of surprises, so wouldn't you know that one day after she was diagnosed as cancer-free, she went and had a heart attack! She fell out with rapid breathing, lost control of her urine, etc., but by the time I grabbed some friends to help me carry her out to the car (about 5 minutes), she was sitting up (a little dazed) looking at me like "what's your problem?"
Well, I didn't want to take a chance, so I took her to the vet anyway and it's a good thing I did because while we were there, it happened again. No urine loss, but she had rapid breathing, pale gums, and collapsed. The vet rushed her to the back, gave her some oxygen and lidocaine drip, and came back out and told me that her heart was racing at 300 bpm at some points. He called her cardiologist and they conferred on things. They got her stabilized finally (it took all day, I took her at 9 am, she came home at 7 pm), and prescribed a new medication to use with the sota
called mexitil. It controls arrythmias. She's been on it for about 3 days now and she hasn't had any bouts of rapid breathing, but she shakes a lot and acts odd. She gets both meds (sota, 80mg twice a day and mexitil, 200mg. 3 times a day) now and I don't like it. I'm someone that doesn't even use aspirin. But I want to help her. The doctor said that she may be able to be weaned off the mexitil, so we'll see. I don't like some of the side effects of the drug, one of which is death from cardiac arrest! so i want her off it as soon as possible. All i can say in consolation is that she's not breathing as rapidly and when i listen to her heart with a stethoscope, the beats are slower, though still erratic. Any one have any experiences with this drug? Even my vet says he's not familiar with it, but the cardiologist is, so....I have a call into him today. Oh, and I found out that she doesn't have true cardiomyopathy. She just has symptoms of it. I think her real problem is just arrythmia.So anyway, I'm watching her like a hawk and taking notes contantly, so hopefully, we can tweak the meds and get her feeling as close to normal as possible.
Feel free to email with any info.
Thanks again and take care,
Tanya
