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Leo now on heart meds

Karlin

Administrator
Staff member
Well, the day has finally come when Leo is ready for heart meds for his MVD. :( He's had a cough for a bit now, and for some reason also seems to have problems keeping down any dry food meals (wet food is OK). My vet feels perhaps it is the pressure of an enlarged heart pushing against internal organs. He was at the cardiologist about 5 months ago and got a fairly good checkup in that he was surprised Leo hadn't advanced a lot more in the couple of years since he was diagnosed with a grade 3. At that point he was up to a grade 4 but now he has moved to a grade 5. So he's on generic fortekor and a low dose of frusemide.

Sigh. It's always sad when it's time for the MVD meds, a day we always all hope won't come.

Like many cavaliers he was put initially on frusemide 8 years ago when he started meds for his SM and tended to pee himself for quite a while. I took hi off it in part for that reason, but also it is no longer recommended for SM by Clare Rusbridge... anyway, sure enough he wet the bench where he sits this morning even though I had him out a few times -- so we'll have some adjustments to make to get this to work right! :lol: Right now he's on the sofa, but on a dog blanket on top of a plastic trash bag as a liner, just in case. :)

It's funny, my foster gal Libby, who's on twice the amount of frusemide, could go ages without needing to go out and has total self control. I'll tell her to have a word with Leo, I think. :wggle:
 
Sorry about Leo - all our Cavaliers with heart murmurs are effectively living on borrowed time, but when they have to start meds it's a reminder that time can run out. Hope Leo's hour glass will run slowly...

Kate, Oliver and Aled
 
It's amazing the adaptations we all make for dogs. I chuckled when I read about Leo on the sofa on a dog blanket over a plastic liner "just in case". I have two chairs that are covered with towels because Oz likes to lick them incessantly and we have stairs all over the place for Riley and Oliver. My house in NOT ready for a magazine shoot!!!! Not with dog beds in every corner and dog paraphernalia everywhere you look!

So sorry to hear about Leo. I guess the time does come for all dogs with murmurs when they reach that point. I know that I've never witnessed a truly horrible SM pain attack, but MVD scares me more than SM. I just recovered from a bout of pneumonia and struggling to breathe is no picnic. I hope Leo settles down quickly and his foster sister's little talk helps.
 
When you have a dog with a murmur, you know the day is coming that meds will be needed at some future time. You think you're prepared for it, but in reality, it's still a shock to hear it. Like your foster Libby, once Sydney got use to frusemide, he didn't have to go as often and that will probably happen with Leo too.

Keeping fingers crossed that the meds make him comfortable and he sticks around for a good long time.
 
Sorry to hear about Leo, looks like there are a few of us now in the same boat with our dogs :(

On a lighter note our Gus 12 and a half is doing really well, no heart problems and the new vet we are taking him to doesn't feel that he has sm either as no medications stopped the nodding and he is not in any pain, he flies around like a puppy and sleeps comfortably.

So she said all going well he is well looked after and unless we are worried about anything she will see him in 2015..and she is sure she will :)
 
Sorry Karlin,
welcome to the club.....a club none of us want to be in.....
I did smile about the frusemide though, when my Leo started on it I couldn't believe so much pee could come out of such a little dog.....we've got it under control a bit more now but Im thankful I have wooden floors :)
 
Yes my house isn't ready for a magazine shoot either... :lol: -- we have the little stairs for the little dogs in a few strategic places, then the mix of large and small beds, and the x-pens, and of course lots of white Pyrenean hair... :rolleyes:

Leo's still pretty active, so hoping he manages along for quite a long time. To be honest when he got his SM diagnosis I thought maybe he'd do OK for a couple of years, and it's almost 9 years after his first MRI now, so he's done very well indeed.

I hate the decline of MVD into worsening CHF too -- have gone through it now with two dogs, one my own, one a rescue I homed to a neigbour, which I looked after meds for. I hope someday it won't any longer be 'one of those things' that comes with owning a cavalier.

Great to hear about Gus! :D
 
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