Aled went into CHF in July 2014 shortly after his 7th birthday. His breathing got very rapid in the evening and I took him to the emergency vets who kept him in intensive care overnight, giving him vetmedin by injection. In the morning I collected him from them and took him to our usual vets, who kept him in for the rest of the day doing tests and getting him reasonably stabilised. Ten days later I took him to a cardiologist for a full examination; both his valves were useless, you could see them on the computer screen simply flapping. So he was a very fragile dog. The meds definitely helped, and I organised steps for getting onto the settee and we already had a buggy so Aled was able to go everywhere with me and my other Cavalier Oliver. For 2 or 3 months he lived a fairly normal life, except for restricted walks and no stairs or excitements. If he felt well enough to get out and walk in the park for a little while he could. Twice he got a build-up of fluid in his abdomen, but another diuretic on top of his frusemide dealt with that quite quickly. He had bad teeth - but like Lady, no question of doing anything about it; but at one stage, a tooth got very loose and he found it difficult to eat - something to watch out for; I changed him to a very small puppy kibble that he could swallow whole, and after that he never lost his appetite! His breathing never got bad again, it stayed at around 20 or less. Aled also had mild CM/SM and myoclonus, so he was taking 16-18 pills a day and went on strike! So I started grinding each lot of pills in a pestle and mortar, adding a bit of honey and some water, putting the mixture in a plastic syringe (left over from some metacam) and squirting it into the side of his mouth. This saved a lot of hassle.
Generally speaking, Aled just gradually got weaker, spent more time dozing, and seemed a bit disoriented. He liked to lie on his side with his legs stretched out, as he could breathe best that way, so I bought him a padded fluffy mat that gave him plenty of room to lie flat out. He slowly declined until early February 2015, when Oliver woke me wanting help with changing position (he had paralysed hind legs) and I found Aled standing in the middle of the bedroom desperately trying to breathe - it was obvious his heart had finally given up. I gave him his heart meds and sat cuddling him until our vets opened (during which time, I may say, he consumed half a tin of Butchers Tripe!) and then took him over to be put to sleep. Aled liked meeting other dogs, though I had restricted this as much as I could, and a friend had brought her Cavalier in for a few minutes the afternoon before and there was a lovely few moments when the old Aled appeared, playing with Mia. But I think that was too much for his heart; it's a difficult balance between letting them do what gives them pleasure and quality of life, even if it hastens their death, and protecting them from activities that will put strain on their hearts so that they stay alive longer. On the whole, I was glad the real Aled had appeared for those last few moments - it was a great goodbye. He had lived for 7 months since going into heart failure. He was registered with the Cavalier Collection Scheme, so our vet did a post mortem and took tissue samples for heart and pancreatitis research. He was then individually cremated and the ashes returned to me, and in June I scattered Aled and Oliver's ashes together on our favourite beach in Norfolk (Oliver had been put to sleep 5 days after Aled).
But Lady's path may be completely different to Aled's - MVD is a very individual disease. It is also a disease that is very hard on the owner doing the nursing. You will find yourself doing a lot of your grieving beforehand, as you carry Lady out into the garden, get yet more pills down her, and watch her declining. You may feel tied to the house, because it is difficult to ask someone to look in for an hour or two if they may find a dog who has taken a turn for the worse and needs to be rushed to the vet. You get into nursing mode and then suddenly find you no longer have a dog to nurse and it takes time to adjust. So do look after yourself as well as Lady and make allowances for being stressed.
If this can help you and Lady, I'm glad. It may, of course be of no help at all!
I still so miss my little Aled.
:hug:
Kate and Ruby
PS If it would help to phone or email me, I'll message you my contact details. Don't mind you having a cry down the phone if that's what will help - I've done that myself!