Do you know how to tell if your dog has congestive heart failure? Well, I didn’t. FULL DISCLOSURE: I am not a medical doctor of vetinary medicine and this is just my observation. Please see YOUR vet for information.
I wanted to share what is going on in my life lately. We have had 4 fur babies in our life but have lost 2 in the past year. We still have one bulldog, Roxie, and our Shih Tzu, Minnie. Unfortunately we recently found out our Roxie, is ill. Here is her story.
Our Victorian Bulldog, Roxie has always had a what I call, a “boxy” build. This means she is more square. She is our second Victorian and know that this is just how they look. Dave tells everyone her name is Skinny! Most chuckle at him. Here she is doing her, “I want to play” pose.
Roxie had ear surgery in May and has been doing well. She has always been active and loves sun bathing. Roxie needed to loose a few pounds so we have cut down on treats. She has always nibbled her dry food throughout the day, only getting a limited amount.
If you are a bully owner you know how they don’t do well in the heat. She doesn’t mind it so we have to be the one’s who limit her being outside. We began to notice a change in her with the loss of our other bulldog, Maxx. Maxx was 14 years old was showing signs of a bad heart before we had to say good-bye the end of June.
Roxie was showing these signs;
- She was laying around more than usual
- panting more
- breathing harder
- not wanting to be outside
- drinking more water
These weren’t anything unusual when the weather gets really hot. Laying around more is the same reaction Roxie had when her brother, Ricco, passed last year. Ricco is an English Bulldog and they grew up together from pups. And this is why we didn’t think anything was wrong with her. Aren’t they just too cute in this picture?
Do you know how to tell when your dogs heart is beginning to fail?
The day before I was leaving for 5 days I noticed she looked a little heavier. We thought it was because she was drinking a lot more water than normal. Another thing she does when hot.
I returned home and she looked bigger to me. Dave said she wasn’t eating very much because it was so hot. I observed her the next day and decided she needed to see the vet. I made an appointment for the next morning. The next morning she was so bloated and looked miserable. She waighed 68 LBS (gained 6 pounds!!) since our last visit 6 weeks prior. I said there was no way cause she was hardly eating due to the heat.
After some tests were done, it was confirmed she has congestive heart failure. They needed to keep her for the rest of the day. We picked her up about 6 hours later and were happy to hear she didn’t need to spend the night at the animal hospital. Roxie had 7 & 1/2 liters of fluid removed from her. Roxie now weighed 52 pounds. She looked so skinny! Home for the night and we had to return the next morning for more observation.
Roxie did alright overnight and we dropped her off. I received a call about 2 hours later that her breathing was not good and her heart rate was really high. An EKG was done and sent it off to be read. Results were determined she has one chamber that has 2 extra beats and there is nothing that can be done. Receiving another 2 perscriptions to help make her comfortable and then a re-check this Thursday. We know we have limited time with our little Roxie so we are spoiling her.
do you know how to tell if yyour dog may have a congestive heat? If you observe that your dog is not; being their self, drinking more, breathing heavy, not eating as much, and looking bloated, get them to the vet. It may be nothing but it also might be congestive heart failure. Please say a prayer for our Roxie.
Until we meet again . . .
I’m so sorry Judi