Pics added!!: HOMED: Urgent hospice foster/adopter

Izzy is very thin and Monty who has a medium symptom free murmur is also skinny. The vet who diagnosed a heart cough as opposed to kc (he'd been exposed to it) picked up on the thinness as a sign of mvd. I suppose the body uses up more energy to keep the heart working so fast.

Yay for happy endings!

Hi Guys.
The little guys name is Hammer. He's 6 and is extremely thin. Just needs a lot of tlc and i'm sure he'll be ok. Huge improvement this morning when i went down to himself and Holly. He was NEARLY as hyper as holly. New tablets are really kicking in. Such a sweet little guy. My house mate and myself are debating whether to sent Holly over on the boat on Saturday and keep Hammer :lol: He's just soooo sweet and makes holly look like a right spoiled little madam. (which she is). Hopefully some of his manners will rub off on Holly.
Yvonne

oh, he sounds gorgeous.

I am quite surprised the vet didn't have him on frusemide already, if he was "fluidy".

You can actually hear excess fluid in the dog's panting, if you know what you're listening for.

Declan ended up on frusemide, Vetmedin (Pimobendan), Fortekor and Corventyl .... all of which made such a difference to his quality of life.

Cailean's currently on frusemide, Vetmedin and (since his scare in the summer) Corventyl to open up his airways.

Aileen, he sounds a complete sweetie.

OK spoke to Finbar. I'd misheard a bit of what Yvonne said. Turns out Finbar, the vet is more concerned about his prostrate in the near term (eg coming year or two) than his heart!

He has strong signs of potential prostrate problems that Finbar says are typical of a dog used for stud. Hence he DOES need to be neutered -- I'd misunderstood Yvonne on this one. Finbar is not too concerned about aneasthesia risks -- thinks he will do fine as long as all are aware he does have hearrt issues. He has him on frusemide and Vetmedin and says he should be a transformed dog on this within a couple of weeks -- he should put on weight and feel a lot better and the strain on his heart will be lessened. He thinks he has a good life ahead of him as long as that prostrate is taken care of thru neutering. He says he would neuter him in a couple of weeks when he's had a chance to improve overall. However he indicated he didn't think he'd have any problems being neutered right away -- but no point in adding additional stress when he has a long journey ahead of him and hence suggests doing it after he has had a chance to settle into his new home. he does have a very strong murmur that Finbar would grade as a five but says there's no reason he shouldn't have some quality time ahead of him.

Well that certainly all came as a surprise! I am so glad this fellow came into rescue and had a proper full exam. Finbar is one of the best vets in Ireland, very well known surgery, so his advice would really be top notch and well-informed.

With Izzy, both Frusicare and vetmedin gave results with in days for izzy, but he has never regained weight, despite being fed almost as much as big Monty.

I have been told that some vets do Vit B12 injections every 3 months, and this can help the older dogs regain some weight...might be worth trying Barbara?