CVFlagg
Well-known member
Hi! I have been dealing with the advancement of my sweet Beanie's MVD over the past few months but just now getting around to posting about it. Thought I would share what we have been and are doing and any advice is always appreciated! She is under the care of the cardiology team at Texas A & M Small Animal Hospital so I have now doubt she is getting the best care possible, if only I could avoid the speeding tickets I keep getting on my way down there!
Beanie is 12 and has a grade 3 murmur but developed a cough in late December. We took her down to A&M where they did x-rays and an echo (she had previously had an echo in April 2011) and sadly they said her heart disease had advanced pretty rapidly from April '11 to January '12 but she was NOT yet in CHF. Her heart is very enlarged and pushing on the traechea causing the coughing so they put her on a bronchodilator to help with that which it has. They also started her on Enalapril and a blood pressure medication, Amlodipine, as we discovered she had high blood pressure while there. Go down for one thing, come back a whole slew of problems!
Any way, she has been on that cocktail for close to two months now but I noticed over the weekend her respiratory rate had increased and she had begun having these odd tremors so we went to the regular vet yesterday. She did x-rays and sent them down to A&M and this morning they said her heart had enlarged since her visit in January We are going to do a trial of Lasix and trend her breathing for 24 hours to see if that helps, they think it is a possibility there is some very minor edema that they just can't see and if there is, thinking Lasix could help. We are also going to switch bronchodilators as well to see if the tremors stop. The cardiologist said honestly that they all might cause tremors but it didn't hurt to give another one a shot. Good thing is that she is eating very well and is still active so no signs that she is in trouble but poor thing shakes like a leaf when we go to the vet or A&M so just hate bringing her in. We are due to go back to A&M in June for a recheck, assuming nothing happens before that. Please keep sweet Beanie in your thoughts!
Beanie is 12 and has a grade 3 murmur but developed a cough in late December. We took her down to A&M where they did x-rays and an echo (she had previously had an echo in April 2011) and sadly they said her heart disease had advanced pretty rapidly from April '11 to January '12 but she was NOT yet in CHF. Her heart is very enlarged and pushing on the traechea causing the coughing so they put her on a bronchodilator to help with that which it has. They also started her on Enalapril and a blood pressure medication, Amlodipine, as we discovered she had high blood pressure while there. Go down for one thing, come back a whole slew of problems!
Any way, she has been on that cocktail for close to two months now but I noticed over the weekend her respiratory rate had increased and she had begun having these odd tremors so we went to the regular vet yesterday. She did x-rays and sent them down to A&M and this morning they said her heart had enlarged since her visit in January We are going to do a trial of Lasix and trend her breathing for 24 hours to see if that helps, they think it is a possibility there is some very minor edema that they just can't see and if there is, thinking Lasix could help. We are also going to switch bronchodilators as well to see if the tremors stop. The cardiologist said honestly that they all might cause tremors but it didn't hurt to give another one a shot. Good thing is that she is eating very well and is still active so no signs that she is in trouble but poor thing shakes like a leaf when we go to the vet or A&M so just hate bringing her in. We are due to go back to A&M in June for a recheck, assuming nothing happens before that. Please keep sweet Beanie in your thoughts!