lovemybubbles
Member
Advice: Cavalier diagnosed with MVD & tricuspid regurgitation at age 1 year 3 months
This is so difficult for me to write. I have the sweetest, kindest, most loving cavalier that I adore, my first cavalier. My barely 1 year old best friend (1 year 3 months) was just diagnosed with mild tricuspid regurgitation and trace mitral regurgitation, grade 1 murmur, no cardiac enlargement or structural changes. I did a ton of research prior to getting her and got her from a breeder that has bred cavaliers for many years, has his cavaliers in shows, got the papers showing the parents/grandparents were cleared by a cardiologist after 5 etc and here I am. I know there is still a risk of this even if the parents are clear, but this early? Why? I have also read the success stories, that sometimes they are diagnosed super early and don't progress, which is obviously where I am hoping to be 6 months from now. FYI, the breeder is already informed of the situation and has notified her sibling parents.
I work in health care and luckily have a good sense as to what this all means, what the medications do when/if we get to that point etc but I am still finding all of this information generally overwhelming. On top of it, we are pretty sure she has allergies and we are trying the hills diet that seems to not be very popular amongst the board. I am not sure if there is really another option to rule out food allergies, but to be honest i've been so focused on the heart that I haven't researched this a ton yet.
Here is where I am asking for any advice that you may all have:
1) I have ASPCA insurance, it caps congenital heart disease at $500 lifetime, which Im pretty sure we hit already. I keep reading that a lot of you have insurances that seem to be reimbursing you, what insurance companies are you using? We are considering dropping the insurance and just putting the premiums towards her annual/bi-annual echos.
2) Regarding supplements, I am reading that fish oils (omega 3 and omega 6), CoQ10, vitamin b, vitamin E are regularly used. Is there a certain brand that is recommended? Are your vets monitoring any labs while your pets are on these?
3) For those of you that have your cavaliers on supplements, are you giving them yourself or is there a holistic vet/cardiologist/regular vet recommending them/following? I am starting to look into holistic vets, but as you can imagine our vet bills are getting rather high and if you have had any experience with a particular one please share!
4) Any particular food/diet that has worked for your pet, keep in mind I am in the process of ruling out food allergies.
5) I would love to hear any success stories.
I only found out she was diagnosed 4 days ago but I am finding it difficult to move on with my everyday routine. I wanted to thank this board for providing support, I have only gotten through the first 15 pages out of 71 on this forum but have found it immensely helpful and for every cavalier that has to suffer through this, my heart breaks. I am trying to maintain optimism, at least in front of my best friend, but I am so scared for her next check up via echo in 6 months that it is proving very difficult at best...
Thank you all for listening.
This is so difficult for me to write. I have the sweetest, kindest, most loving cavalier that I adore, my first cavalier. My barely 1 year old best friend (1 year 3 months) was just diagnosed with mild tricuspid regurgitation and trace mitral regurgitation, grade 1 murmur, no cardiac enlargement or structural changes. I did a ton of research prior to getting her and got her from a breeder that has bred cavaliers for many years, has his cavaliers in shows, got the papers showing the parents/grandparents were cleared by a cardiologist after 5 etc and here I am. I know there is still a risk of this even if the parents are clear, but this early? Why? I have also read the success stories, that sometimes they are diagnosed super early and don't progress, which is obviously where I am hoping to be 6 months from now. FYI, the breeder is already informed of the situation and has notified her sibling parents.
I work in health care and luckily have a good sense as to what this all means, what the medications do when/if we get to that point etc but I am still finding all of this information generally overwhelming. On top of it, we are pretty sure she has allergies and we are trying the hills diet that seems to not be very popular amongst the board. I am not sure if there is really another option to rule out food allergies, but to be honest i've been so focused on the heart that I haven't researched this a ton yet.
Here is where I am asking for any advice that you may all have:
1) I have ASPCA insurance, it caps congenital heart disease at $500 lifetime, which Im pretty sure we hit already. I keep reading that a lot of you have insurances that seem to be reimbursing you, what insurance companies are you using? We are considering dropping the insurance and just putting the premiums towards her annual/bi-annual echos.
2) Regarding supplements, I am reading that fish oils (omega 3 and omega 6), CoQ10, vitamin b, vitamin E are regularly used. Is there a certain brand that is recommended? Are your vets monitoring any labs while your pets are on these?
3) For those of you that have your cavaliers on supplements, are you giving them yourself or is there a holistic vet/cardiologist/regular vet recommending them/following? I am starting to look into holistic vets, but as you can imagine our vet bills are getting rather high and if you have had any experience with a particular one please share!
4) Any particular food/diet that has worked for your pet, keep in mind I am in the process of ruling out food allergies.
5) I would love to hear any success stories.
I only found out she was diagnosed 4 days ago but I am finding it difficult to move on with my everyday routine. I wanted to thank this board for providing support, I have only gotten through the first 15 pages out of 71 on this forum but have found it immensely helpful and for every cavalier that has to suffer through this, my heart breaks. I am trying to maintain optimism, at least in front of my best friend, but I am so scared for her next check up via echo in 6 months that it is proving very difficult at best...
Thank you all for listening.