Pinky has Heart disease ~ failure of the mitral valve

My poor Pinky began coughing several months ago. After a few weeks when the cough would not go away, I took her into the vet. An ultrasound determined that she has Left Atrium enlargement, and the valve that goes into the fourth chamber has scar tissue on it, causing leakage (back flow) of blood and a loud heart murmur. In addition, a small quantity of fluid was found in the lungs and her liver is enlarged. Blood work came out well: kidney function is fine, and there is no sign of Cushings disease. She is on Lasix and Enalapril the first to reduce fluid buildup and lower blood pressure, the latter I think to alter the kidneys' signal for more fluid.
Also, she is on Pepcid AC to reduce acid because some gastrointestinal bleeding was suspected.
Anyhow Friday night she fainted at least I believe that is what happened. I have read that the down sides to the use of enalapril In some cases the medication can cause severe lowering of blood pressure and can lead to fainting when it is used as well as kidney failure. I am concerned that the leaky valve is causing Pinky to faint. My vet mentioned that fainting could occur because of the leaky valve and not enough oxygen-rich blood going to the brain. Pinky has an appointment with a cardiologist but not for another 2 weeks. Any advice or if you could share similar experiences would be greatly appreciated.

 

Gina,

First I'm sorry to hear about Pinky's condition.

Enalapril pretty much thins out the blood so her heart can pump it more efficiently. This could lead to low blood pressure which could cause the fainting.

When I was on Naproxen for tendonitis my blood pressure got really low and I actually fainted a couple times.

Here's a quote on side effects that I found:

 

I have no advice but wishing you and Pinky luck with the cardiologist. If she just fainted when she started the drugs maybe they are the cause.

I had a scare this week-end with my husband. he only started blood pressure meds about a month ago, well, his skin now feels cold and clammy and we went up in the mountains Friday to get a tree, we were about 6000 feet. he almost passed out. I think its his blood pressure meds

Do you need to regulate how much blood pressure meds she is getting?

Jimiyas cat is on heart meds so hopefully she can help

honeybear

 

Oh I'm sooo sorry! Poor Pinky. Ik now you must be devistated.

Ok. We had a gelding with a heart condition. he had some really bad dizzy spells on that med as well. The vet fianlly told us to cut it back by 50% and see if that helped. It did.

They did an endoscopic surgery to repair the "flap" on his left ventrical that was causing a moderate back flow of blood. He was given a 85% success rate. And he's still alive a kickin today! That was about 5 years ago. He can do everything a normal horse can do. Just not an excess of speed events. or Extremely long trail rides. Other than that, they use him for playdays, pleasure and light/moderate trail riding.

Hopefully Pinky's Big loving heart can be fixed. Lord knows she's a wonderful dog, and has an even more wonderful owner.

Good luck and I'll be doing some research for you and defianatley praying!

 

Here are some of the sites I found: the first doesn't give a good survival % though. I disagree with that part.

http://www.pethealthcare.net/html/body_ ... heart.html

Diagram of a normal dogs heart:

http://www.vetmed.wsu.edu/ClientED/anat ... scular.asp

more info from Washington State University

http://www.vetmed.wsu.edu/ClientED/mi.asp

http://www.vin.com/proceedings/Proceedi ... tegory=408

http://www.shilohgtf.com/Mitral_Valve_Defect.htm

 

oh no not Pinky, she is my favorite of your dogs! (not that I personally know any of them) but her cute little body just makes me smile and laugh whenever I see it. I really hope something can help her to improve it. She looks like she would be an awesome dog! Best of Luck!!

 

I'm so sorry to hear about Pinky's condition. I will keep her in my thoughts.

 

Gina, I am so very sorry. My prayers are with you and Pinky. She is a wonderful girl and has really touched alot of people on this forum. I cannot help much with more than sending out love and prayers, but if I hear anything at all that I think could help, I will send it right to you. Stay strong, you are the best Mommy she could have! :y_the_best:

 

Thank you all for your replies and support. Pinky being so sick has really had me feeling guilty about getting the new puppy. Because he requires so much of my time but Pinky really needs me right now. I so am fearful that I am going to wake up one morning and find that she has passed away just as Izzy did. I cant bare the thought of her not being here. She brings so much happiness to my life. I have started letting her sleep in my bed at night just because I am afraid of her being alone.

 

I'm so sorry to hear about Pinky, Gina!! Try not to let the fear of her passing color your time with her. It's very hard, but she will know something is wrong.

My cat has a heart murmur, but no leaky valves. His left ventricle is a little enlarged and the wall between ventricles is thickening. He has never had any symptoms, but that is very common for cats (unlike dogs, who have human-like symptoms, like coughing). The murmur was discovered last year at about this time in a routine appointment. We went to a cardiologist for an echocardiogram, which is like an ultrasound of the heart. It is non-invasive - just a small shaved patch of fur. Probably way less traumatic for a dog than for a cat.

My cat is on enalapril and atenolol. Even though he never had any symptoms, he does seem livelier to me since being on the medication. A holistic vet also prescribed some supplements for him, but I can't get him to take them. They are actually supplements for dogs, so you might ask your vet about them. I will look when I get home and see exactly what they are.

One night my cat accidentally got a double dose of the medication, but even then he was fine. No dizziness as far as I can tell. Maybe Pinky's dose is too large??

Let us know if you find out anything more.

 

The supplements we were given are:

Cardio-Plus, made by Standard Process
K-9 Cardiovascular Support, which I believe is made by Resources.

 

Gina, how is Pinky doing?