Well apart from my introduction post this is my first so, hello!
I wanted to ask some advice about our eldest Cavalier George who has congestive heart failure. He is 8 yrs old and was first diagnosed with a murmur just 18 months ago so it has progressed very quickly. He is on Vetmedin, Cardalis, Frusemide and Digoxin - the latter because he has a very irregular heartbeat. He doesn't cough too much these days but his breathing is very heavy and the slightest thing makes him a lot worse. He has episodes where it is obviously too uncomfortable to lay down and he has been know to stand for 4-5 hrs. He is fairly bright in himself though we think the past few days he's had a bit of a bug and has a very runny tummy which he had some antibiotics for yesterday. Now the main problem is he has been continually losing weight (last Sat he was 9 kg, last night he was 8.6 kg and he's been going down for quite a few months) and is just not eating well. He has always been 'fussy' and we haven't given in to him in the past but obviously now we are trying to tempt him with all sorts of food and he's just turning his nose up except for chicken, he was eating pasta as well until the end of last week but refuses that now and just recently has also refused the chicken, though when he does eat he seems hungry? Does anyone have any ideas of what we can give him as he really does need more than just chicken - when he decides to eat it! We have tried raw, Naturediet, tinned dog food, fish, mince beef/lamb to name a few and we need to be careful he doesn't have anything salty. He had some blood taken yesterday and they are going to test for a whole lot of different things including if the Digoxin levels can be increased slightly so it could be if they find something they can treat he may feel better and start eating more but we don't hear back until tomorrow. Also if anyone has any ideas of any supplements we can give him to help in any way that would be great. Thank you
I wanted to ask some advice about our eldest Cavalier George who has congestive heart failure. He is 8 yrs old and was first diagnosed with a murmur just 18 months ago so it has progressed very quickly. He is on Vetmedin, Cardalis, Frusemide and Digoxin - the latter because he has a very irregular heartbeat. He doesn't cough too much these days but his breathing is very heavy and the slightest thing makes him a lot worse. He has episodes where it is obviously too uncomfortable to lay down and he has been know to stand for 4-5 hrs. He is fairly bright in himself though we think the past few days he's had a bit of a bug and has a very runny tummy which he had some antibiotics for yesterday. Now the main problem is he has been continually losing weight (last Sat he was 9 kg, last night he was 8.6 kg and he's been going down for quite a few months) and is just not eating well. He has always been 'fussy' and we haven't given in to him in the past but obviously now we are trying to tempt him with all sorts of food and he's just turning his nose up except for chicken, he was eating pasta as well until the end of last week but refuses that now and just recently has also refused the chicken, though when he does eat he seems hungry? Does anyone have any ideas of what we can give him as he really does need more than just chicken - when he decides to eat it! We have tried raw, Naturediet, tinned dog food, fish, mince beef/lamb to name a few and we need to be careful he doesn't have anything salty. He had some blood taken yesterday and they are going to test for a whole lot of different things including if the Digoxin levels can be increased slightly so it could be if they find something they can treat he may feel better and start eating more but we don't hear back until tomorrow. Also if anyone has any ideas of any supplements we can give him to help in any way that would be great. Thank you