Protect your Dogs from Cognitive Heart Diseases

Witnessed a neighbor or friend’s pet’s death due to congestive heart failure? Anxious about your beloved pet’s health and well-being?

Anxiety will get you nowhere. Congestive heart failure is a disease common in dogs of all ages. Unfortunately, it cannot be prevented. So, if the symptoms of this disease go unnoticed, it may prove fatal for your precious pet. Then, you will be left with no other choice but to brood over your irrevocable loss.

Here’s all you need to know about congestive heart disease in dogs.

Deprived of Blood

Congestive heart disease refers to a condition when the muscles of the heart weaken, thus, affecting the heart’s ability to pump enough blood to the body. At the initial stages, the tissues have a compensatory mechanism, which enables them to function properly, despite lower blood supply. However, as the disease takes an acute form, the compensatory mechanism fails to work and the body is deprived of the appropriate blood supply. This further causes fluid to back up, mostly in the lungs, thus, causing congestion.

Common causes of this disease are:

• Degeneration of the heart valve, which poses an additional burden on the heart to function properly, thus, resulting in Congestive Heart Failure.

• Dilated cardiomyopathy, which refers to the enlargement of the heart. This enlargement weakens the muscle in turn, and reduces the heart’s ability to pump blood properly.

Other common causes of this disease are old age, injury, infection, improper diet and lack of exercise. There are some who are born with defects in the heart.

Knowing

A dog undergoing these problems will show discomfort in breathing, sudden weight loss, lack of exercise, tiredness, a pot belly due to backing up of fluids, fainting frequently and coughing.

However, as these symptoms are common to various diseases, it is overwhelming to determine the presence of congestive heart disease. It is therefore advisable to visit a vet for advice. On undergoing a series of examinations, which include X-ray, blood tests, urine examinations etc; the vet will be able to diagnose the disease. Early detection of the disease coupled with proper medication will control the damage at an early stage and provide comfort and life to your pet. Vets often prescribe vetmedin for dogs, which proves beneficial in treating the disease and controlling it with results better than any other medication. A study reveals that dogs treated with vetmedin for dogs showed significant improvement at the end of a week. What’s more, at day 56, the dogs showed a significant improvement in breathing, exercise tolerance and overall health. However, do not make the mistake of administering the medicine yourself based on your doubts. You may be playing with fire. Do not resort to any medication without the vet’s advice.

In cases where the disease takes an acute form, the dog may require hospitalization and oxygen therapy. A low-sodium-diet also proves helpful in reversing fluid accumulation.

Yes, congestive heart disease can be treated. However, acute heart damage may be irreversible. So, be an attentive pet owner and visit the vet on observing any of the signs of this fatal disease.

The author is a pet lover and animal health enthusiast. He has worked closely with veterinarians and understands animal health issues. He is also an avid reader and a proficient writer. He has written articles and blogs about pet medications.