Fergus-Right Sided Heart Failure

[BigDogBuford]

First off, so sorry to be MIA for so long. Between changing my day job (back to Roscoe's Ranch!) and starting my new business it's been crazy. Anyway, on to Fergus.

About three or so weeks ago I noticed some abdominal swelling on Fergus. Sometimes he has trouble pooping so I kept an eye on him and when I also noticed some lethargy I took him in. Dr. Evergreen was worried about liver disease and/or Cushings so we snapped some rads and did some lab work. His radiographs didn't show much going on in the abdomen other than lots of fluid and possibly a slightly swollen liver but did show an enlarged heart. His labs came back pretty much normal except for a couple slightly elevated liver values. We sent his rads off to the radiologist and he thought it could be heart failure or a blood clot in one of the vessels of the liver.

So that took us to an abdominal ultrasound which showed nothing going on in the abdomen to account for the ascites but they also remarked that an echo would be in order. So, an echo was scheduled the next day with the radiologist. Th findings were that he is in severe dilated cardiomyopathy right heart failure. Due to his unremarkable labs and the sudden onset Dr. Woodfield thinks it may be due to a taurine deficiency. He started on Lasix and Taurine today and we'll pick up Vetmedin tomorrow. As long as he's handling all that well then we'll add in Enalapril in a week or so. Dr. Woodfield said that if it is indeed due to a taurine deficiency than prognosis is actually pretty good and sometimes you'll even see a reversal of some of the heart disease.

He seems to be feeling a bit better today and had blueberry pancakes for breakfast this morning.

[stafinois]

Oh dear! Hope you see improvement soon.

[Barb04]

Hope he keeps improving and feeling better.

[Bigpoodleperson]

Is he a boxer? How old? DCM is actually really common in boxers unfortunately if he is a boxer. I hope he recovers quickly if it is something else! Good luck with everything, and its good that you caught it!

[Saeleofu]

Vetmedin is good stuff. We only recently started carrying it, but so far it's done some pretty amazing things. Vibes that it is just a deficiency and he'll make a smooth and quick recovery!

[BigDogBuford]

Thanks guys! Fergus is actually a Pit Bull of unknown history. He was rescued almost a year ago and we guess that he's between 8-10 years old. He seems to be feeling MUCH better and even made a nuisance of himself while I was getting food ready this morning. His gums are more pink and he's breathing easier and already has more energy. Yay for Fergus!