Dog heart enlargment! Please help!?
ByI have a 7 year old spayed Westie. She was diagnosed with a left side heart enlargment although she shows no symptoms. She only coughs sometimes when running a lot, other than that it’s all fine.Could it be that she was born with this?She is not very active by nature. She also has a narrow trachea (I hope I spelled it right?)but again no symptoms of any kind so far. She sleeps well, has no trouble breathing, totally normal.I live in Sarajevo, Bosnia and they do not do adittional tests here, just told me to come back when she develops the symptoms. I plan to take her to another vet somewhere else and would like to know what adittional test need to be done to determine her condition and is there anything I can do to prevent the symptoms from developing later on in her life?? THANKS SO MUCH!! I really appreciate it.
PS. She is just a bit overweight but does not eat a lot at all, she is just not active and she gained weight after being spayed.
3 Comments
November 26th, 2011 at 6:57 PM
You need to find a Vet Cardiologist. They will be able to do a Color Doppler of the heart & will be able to get her started on any medications she may need to be on.
November 26th, 2011 at 7:06 PM
sounds like she is a victim of bad breeding. The heart and trachea condition are things she was born with, the coughing could just be if you are running in cold weather. THese things hapen when inbreeding occurs to get specific things, like physical attributes, there are also bad genes that are combined by mistake. Good Luck, i love westies and hope she will be fine.
November 26th, 2011 at 7:30 PM
There really is not much you can do for the Cardio enlargement except a good, low sodium diet, limit water to whats needed.. Also there are pills to regulate the heart & make more efficient..almost like digoxin.. My dog has the same thing..now he is 17!