Honest kitchen,beef heart, murmur

So I have a few questions pertaining to my cavalier , the honest kitchen, and holistic vets. So my cavalier king charles spaniel is 8, his names charlie. He was diagnosed with a heart murmur stage 3 about three months ago. I did some research online and learned about taurine and how feeding him beef heart would help. So I went to my vet with my findings and she looked at me as if I was crazy and told me there was nothing I could do. So last week I went to a holistic vet office with my friend who's dog has cancer and I talked to the vet for a few minutes about my dog and she said I should absolutely feed him beef heart. She said a tablespoon at each meal. And that I should stop feeding zignature and switch to the honest kitchen. I also need to set an appointment up with her to try out some acupuncture and what not. So (I work for a vet as a groomer) I had my manager order me the honest kitchen marvel just like the vet recommended and the 10 pound box came today. So my questions are, does anyone else have any experience with this? Should I try to find dehydrated chicken hearts as treats too? I'm trying my best to keep my dog as healthy as I can. I feel bad that I was feeding zignature I thought I was feeding a great food to him but apparently wasnt. I boiled the heart , cut the fat off, and cooked it to about medium, cut it up in chunks and froze it. I believe that's the easiest way but again if anyone has against pointers or experience I'd love to hear from you. I have about 3 or 4 pounds if zignature left so I'm just doing half and half until I run out... I've scoured the Internet and didn't find what I wanted. All I've found is confusion.. So hopefully someone here can help me. Thank you! Ps he also has bad hips and knees a d has arthritis.

Welcome to this forum! I don't know much about different types of dog food, but I do know a bit about heart murmurs in Cavaliers, having had three who have died of heart failure, the latest last February aged 7.

Unless your dog is showing any symptoms such as coughing, shortness of breath or reluctance to exercise, a grade 3 murmur at the age of 8 is actually not all that serious. It may not actually ever get much worse. Generally, symptoms don't start appearing until the murmur is a grade 5. Keeping weight down is very important, so that no unnecessary strain is put on the heart - you may find this a bit tricky if your dog has bad legs and arthritis and presumably can't exercise very much, but feeding a modest amount of good quality food and cutting out high fat treats (my Cavaliers have been happy with chunks of raw vegetable such as courgette or carrot as treats) will help. The leading cardiologist in the UK recommends giving Omega 3 oil to strengthen the heart - there is some research evidence that this can slow down the progress of a murmur. I recognise why a holistic vet would recommend feeding heart for a heart problem, but would myself feel that normal feeding of a good quality food and weight control as outlined above will do as much. You also need to be a bit cautious in hot weather, as this can put strain on the heart - walk early and late, when it is cool, and try to keep your house cool during the day.

Mitral Valve Disease seems to be a very individual thing: some dogs will live for years with a grade 3 or 4 murmur and never go into heart failure - I have had one Cavalier who didn't develop a murmur until he was 8 and never got to more than a grade 4, showed no symptoms, took no medication and died aged 13. Other Cavaliers will go into heart failure but with the help of medication live normal lives for several years. And others will go into heart failure and die within a few months. It is important not to start heart medication such as Vetmedin too soon, as this can over-stimulate the heart and do more harm than good. But a grade 3 murmur is still a long way off from heart failure, and hopefully you will have your Cavalier for several more years. You will find a lot of well-balanced information about MVD in Cavaliers at www.cavalierhealth.org.

I expect other people on this forum will be able to give you advice on the holistic treatment side of things - that's an area I don't know much about! My Cavaliers seem to do OK on a good quality kibble, fresh vegetables for treats, a few extras such as tinned sardines, and a daily Omega 3 capsule as a supplement. So I hope I haven't added to your confusion!

Kate and Ruby (6-year-old Blenheim rescue with - so far - a clear heart)

Was your dog put on medication? When our Shih Tzu was diagnosed with a heart murmur during his annual checkup, when he was around eight or ten years old, he was put on a daily medication. I forget the name of the med, but it was a Rx that was commonly written for humans as well. I think I would recognize the name of it, if I saw it. He lived many years after and died of old age of seventeen, almost seven years ago.

I am a bit surprised your vet said there was nothing you could do, unless it was meant from a dietary aspect.

HI & Welcome!!

You can get freeze chicken dried hearts. They are much easier to give and not nearly as messy.

I have fed my dogs The Honest Kitchen for the last 6 years. I think it has done a lot for their health, but honestly I don't think it impacted their heart in any way.

I think if your dog's tummy can tolerate taurine it could help. Go on Amazon and look for "Thorne Research Bio-Cardio" and read reviews. This was recommended to me, but my Lucky's very sensitive tummy didn't do well with it.

I highly recommend THK, but again, I don't think it's going to impact the health of Charlie's heart. I would recommend seeing a veterinary Cardiologist if you haven't though so that you can make sure Charlie's being treated with the appropriate medicinal protocol and his heart size and any valve leakage are monitored and controlled.