Cookie's not well again :(

[Cathy T]

Poor little Cookie sure has hard a time hasn't she? I just adore her. Please do take her to see a cardiologist for the heart.

[sramirez]

I just went thru this with my Sophie over the weekend as well. I sat up with her most of Sunday night - she couldn't breath. The vet says she definitely has edema, so started her on the Lasix on Monday. He did an x-ray, but now wants to do an ultra-sound. Like others have suggested to you, I am hoping to get into the cardiologist soon vs. having my vet deal with this problem.

Meanwhile, she is doing better since starting the diuretic. I've had her on a very low calorie diet all summer and couldn't figure out why she wasn't dropping any weight. Every day I add fruit, froz. green beans and shredded carrots to her dinner and have cut her low cal kibble way down. I also am giving her a daily vitamin since I cut the kibble down so much.

I'll keep Cookie in my prayers this week along with my Sophie. I lost my last boy to MVD, and certainly didn't want to go down this path of heart problems again

Sheri

[judy]

Poor Cookie--that sounds so hard to see her suffering. It's hard just to hear about it.

Hopefully you can get in to see a cardiologist very soon, and in choosing one, it is probably a good idea to question the office in advance about their experience with cavaliers in particular.

When Zack was misdiagnosed with enlarged heart by an ER vet, and i was looking into it, i found this article (link below) which is quite interesting. It says that you can't reliably learn anything about heart condition from plain xrays of the heart alone, if i understand it right.

And the article notes that normal healthy cavaliers in particular have larger relative cardiac profiles than most other breeds, i think that's what it's saying, if i'm reading it right--in particular, cavaliers have relatively high measures on the VHS (vertebral heart scale), which i think is a measure of the heart size relative to the vertebrae.

http://www.vin.com/proceedings/Proce...8633&O=Generic

Maybe cookie doesn't have enlarged heart, if she doesn't have other symptoms such as breathing difficulties, cough, passing out. Unless the vet is comparing it to a previous xray when her heart was smaller.

zack has gotten so he really likes carrot sticks, to gnaw on and slowly eat. He will eat them instead of his food at certain times of the day. I think they can help with controlling weight.

[matties mum]

How is Cookie today keeping you in my thoughts----Aileen

[Maxxs_Mummy]

Tanya, been thinking about Cookie all day long, how is she today?

[tanztanya]

i thought i would give you a quick update on cookie, my internet was down for alot of last week so havent been able to post. Basically i spoke to my parents about taking cookie to see a specialist and they aren't convinced (i dont know why though). We are going to the vets tomorrow so she can have another look at cookie and i will bring up the question with her then.

Cookie has lost some weight which is good, but its soo difficult when you can hear her little belly rumble in the mornings.

Cookie is starting to become herself again now and she actually DRAGS me further for a walk when she isnt allowed to. She reallllyyy wants to go for a little wander but i end up picking her up and having to take her back in -i give her an extra 3 metres to go and she runs and takes 7!!!

its good to have her jumping around again. my mum has even let her on her BRAND NEW CREAM leather sofas that arrived last week haha.

I will post 2mrw afternoon and let u know how cookie gets on

It's be exactly ONE YEAR 2mrw that we hav had cookie

Tanya xxx

[matties mum]

Still thinking of you and Cookie and please keep us posted----Aileen

[judy]

good luck tanya. i'm glad she feels like walking a lot. too bad you can't get a cardiologist check, she may not have enlarged heart at all, you really probably need an expert to find that out. but even if she doesn't, in the long run it will best if you can do whatever you have to do to help her lose weight, using very small portions, i know it's hard cuz you can't exercise her much, but for her own sake, you may have to try to not feed her more when her tummy rumbles. hunger is not the worst thing that can happen to her Anyway, if you want support for doing that, you have it here. if you can't help giving in, i can sure understand that too, it's hard to know what's right sometimes, that's for sure. thanks for the update, i've been wondering what happened..

[Remali]

That sounds like a good sign that she is so eager to go for walks! Let us know how she is doing.

[RileysMom]

I so hate to hear this! I am such a fan of Cookies!!! The video of her getting upset over her toy just made me fall in love with her. Riley growls a bit when she has her stinky socks and now I tell her she is acting like Cookie and being "Naughty"!!! That is not really a word we use much in the states, but I love it and you just sounded so sweet telling her how bad she was being!!!

Anyway, I went overboard with Riley when I got her and I think I made weekly trips to the pet store for treats so she is a bit heavier than she should be. I now give her about 1/3 cup food twice a day and I keep cans of green beans (no salt added) and carrots around to supliment her meal and give her a little extra to eat (1/3 cup sure does not look like much to eat).

I took her to the vet and had her weighed and she had dropped a pound in about 3 weeks!!!

So adding veggies does work! Just feed her a tiny bit of food and give her a couple of scoops of veggies and that should help a lot over time. Hope this helps some!!!

Get better soon Cookie! We luv u!!!!