My dog has enlarged heart, fluid in belly, tired. What to do?

I am so sorry that your pet is in heart failure. Fluid build up in the abdomen is not a good sign. She needs to see a veterinarian asap to have the fluid drained from her belly first. Then she can potentially go on an additional medication to help manage her heart disease. I would recommend discussing with your vet about placing her on Vetmedin (Pimobendan) which will help her heart pump more effectively. However if you cannot reasonably have the procedure done to drain the fluid (abdominocentesis) then pain medication can be prescribed by your vet to help make her comfortable until you know its time to let her go. Again I am so sorry that your pet is so very ill and I wish you all the best.

Poor guy. I would suggest getting the x-rays looked at by a board certified radiologist to determine what some possible causes are for the fluid in the belly. Also there is a huge difference between free standing fluid in the belly (heart related) and fluid in the intestines (GI related) If the heart is enlarged and there is fluid in the belly, this could inicate an underlying heart failure situation, in which case getting Sarge started on heart medication right away would be the next best step. A high white blood cell count with no fever does not indicate infection, but instead inflammation, so I would double check with the doctor here to ensure the antibiotics are needed at this time. It would be helpful if we could see a copy of your pets radiogrpahs and full bloodwork findings through a consultation if possible. This can also ensure we get all the information needed to make any additional recommendations on Sarge's care moving forward. I hope this helps and I sure hope Sarge gets better soon. Best wishes and take care.

Hello and welcome to Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach. Heart disease affecting the lungs occurs when the heart is unable to pump the blood forward well, and the pressure back-up in the lungs causes fluid to seep out into the lungs, and the lungs fill up like a sponge filling up with water. The medications for heart disease include a diuretic which will essentially 'ring out' that sponge. It pulls fluid out of the body, and therefore out of the lungs. For this reason Rocky will drink and pee a lot on the medication. The other medications work by making the heart pump better (Pimobendan is the usual drug of choice for this) as well as decreasing the blood pressure so the heart can pump in a forward direction more easily (ACE inhibitor usually). Depending on the level of heart disease your vet will choose 1, or all 3, of these medications. Some dogs respond very well to medications and can live for a while, with changes in the medications every once and a while. Some dogs unfortunately don't respond well to the medication. It all depends on how severe the heart is at this point, as well as how well Rocky will respond to medications. You can get an echo (ultrasound of the heart) to determine exactly how bad the heart is at this point, or just see how he responds to the medications. His best chance is to be diligent about his medications, don't let them run out as he will need to be on them for the rest of his life, and do your follow up appointments as your vet is recommending. Best of luck with Rocky.

Hello, sorry to hear about Prince. It sounds like he may have right sided heart disease in which the blood backs up into his veins and the vascular fluid begins to leak out of the vessels. This generally leads to fluid in the belly causing abdominal distention, fluid in the chest, and subcutaneous fluid. Other causes of 3rd spacing can be associated with a low protein level either due to liver disease or loss of protein through the kidneys or bowel. It sounds like prince needs to have a full evaluation of his vital organs and this may include bloodwork, an abdominal ultrasound, a heart ultrasound, and blood pressure monitoring. Ultimately, Prince may need to be evaluated by his veterinarian or an internist to determine why he is having fluid accumulation outside of his vasculature. Hope this helps and best of luck.

You do need more testing to find out what is going on. It can be fluid build up but you need blood work and an ultrasound to see if the fluid is leaking from the intestines or liver congestion secondary from heart disease. sometimes a diet change can help or the fluid may need to be drained to have it evaluated for cells. Without a diagnosis and more testing it is hard to help you further

I certainly agree with your veterinarian that the symptoms you are mentioning do sound consistent with heart failure. If your veterinarian has not yet taken an x-ray of her chest, that would be the next thing I would recommend doing. It will confirm if there is fluid in her lungs. There are a number of medications that can be used for heart failure. A diuretic is only one of them and diuretic doses do have to be adjusted to each patient. I am attaching a handout below with more information on heart failure and medications for you. https://www.veterinarypartner.com/Content.plx?P=A&S=0&C=0&A=1968 Another option would be to have a consultation with a cardiologist who can do an ultrasound of Roxie's heart (an echocardiogram) and will be able to help decide on the best medications for her based on that information. You can find a cardiologist near you here. http://find.vetspecialists.com Good luck! I hope that was helfpul. Thanks for using PetCoach.

Fluid accumulation in the abdomen is often secondary to heart disease (valvular disease, heart worms, cardiomyopathy) ..or...some type of malignancy. Tumors in the abdominal cavity can sometimes be associated with fluid build up. It is important to do some additional diagnostic tests. Survey radiographs to start, then it may be advised to move on to an ultrasound....either of the heart or if the abdomen depending on radiograph findings. The ultrasound can be particularly helpful in cases like this where fluid accumulation reduces the ability to see vital structures on radiographs. This most likely had nothing to do with a case of overeating. There is likely some disease process that has been going on for some time. I hope you can get some answers soon. Thank you for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach.