My old dog with heart failure is struggling to breathe. What now?

Thanks for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach. I am so sorry to hear about Bizou! Unfortunately, if he is in congestive heart failure, the only treatment is the lasix pill (furosemide). Depending on how severe his condition is, he may not survive without hospitalization with oxygen and injectible lasix. Your vet may have a strong suspicion of this if Bizou has a heart murmur and many crackles in the lungs (we can hear with the stethoscope). However, even that is not enough to definitively diagnose it. I have seen a couple dogs I was sure were in heart failure and when I took the x-rays, it turned out to be pneumonia or cancer. If you can at all afford it, go for the xrays so you at least know what you are dealing with - if it's cancer instead of heart failure, that may change your approach. If it is heart failure, it will give a clue as to how serious. If you can't afford the x-rays, treat for whatever the vet thinks is most likely. If heart failure is it, the most commonly prescribed medications are furosemide, enalapril, and pimobendan (though there are others). Finally, if he is still struggling for air, his tongue/gums are any color other than bright pink, or the vet thinks it is serious enough to require oxygen, and you cannot pay for treatment, I would strongly consider euthanasia. Dying by gasping and struggling for air while drowning in your own fluids is a horrible way to go - I've seen it several times. Please feel free to reach out to me via consultation if you'd like to to have a more detailed conversation with you. Best wishes to you and Bizou.

Hi there sorry to hear Lil man has troubles breathing. the course of action will depend on the degree of heart failure and how he responds to medications. I would speak to your vet regarding his quality of life. As per my own experience I can tell you that it is terrible to have troubles breathing, so if Lil man is making no progress, I agree it would be kinder to let him go. It is a difficult decision and needs to be taken considerately, but we need to put Lil man's best interest first. Sending you positive thoughts.

These are all great questions. I’m sorry you are having to navigate through this with Memi but he is lucky to have an owner as dedicated as you are! An increased respiratory rate and/or effort can be indicative of fluid build up in the lungs from heart failure. Sometimes this fluid can be heard on exam with a stethoscope and sometimes it can only be seen on X-rays. In my experience, the severity of the fluid build up correlates with the physical exam findings. Occasionally I may see fluid in an X-ray that I cannot hear on exam so I always recommend doing X-rays if I am suspicious of heart failure. The rate at which fluid builds up in th lungs can vary from dog to dog and case to case. There is no way to anticipate how quickly fluid will accumulate in Memi until it begins to happen. A diuretic like lasix can very effectively remove this fluid but, like with all drugs, has to be used with caution and the patient has to be monitored closely while on it. If Memi is still having difficulty breathing I would recommend requesting a recheck appointment with either your regular veterinarian or your cardiologist. I hope this helps! Please let us know if you have any other questions.

While it could be an allergic reaction Benadryl can also cause sedation. With Koda's breed, age and heart murmur history it would be safest to have your veterinarian do an exam to make sure he isn't going into congestive heart failure. If that is not an option continue to monitor he breathing rate and effort and I do not recommend giving any more Benadryl as that could be artificially lowering his breathing rate through its sedative effects

I'm so sorry that Jenny isn't feeling well. You are correct, it sounds like she is showing signs of congestive heart failure. Unfortunately there are no over the counter medications you can give her for this. She really needs to see a vet. She needs diuretics, ace inhibitors and a drug to help her heart contract better (pimobendan). With these medications on board many dogs can live for quite some time and have a good quality of life. Without the medications I am afraid she won't well. I found this website that may help you in finding some low cost vet care in your area: https://www.rspca.org.uk/whatwedo/care/vetcare I hope this helps. Best wishes to you and Jenny.

The elevated respiration and fainting may indicate that the meds are not controlling the heart failure well at this time. The movement you are seeing with the heartbeat may be related to the murmur getting more intense, or possibly due to an arrhythmia. Without evaluating the medical history and examining Heidi it's difficult to tell. I recommend having her evaluated by your vet sometime soon. Your vet should be able to help explain what's going on and may want to prescribe additional treatment. Heart failure is often a progressive disease, so it's expected that medications will change as the disease progresses. If Heidi is otherwise seeming happy, then I don't think you are being selfish by continuing treatment. I think it's worth consulting with your vet and seeing if anymore can be done to keep her from breathing hard and fainting. I hope that helps and Heidi gets better soon.

Hi there! You can give him some benadryl (diphenhydramine) at 1 mg per pound. The tablets usually come in 25mg. You can go a tad higher too and it usually won't hurt anything. For example, if the dog is 10 pounds, I'll just have owners give 1/2 of the 25mg tablet which comes out to 12.5mg, or if the dog is 5 pounds, then 1/4 tablet which is 6.25 mg, etc. If your dog is really small, you can pick up the children's benadryl and use that to get a more accurate dose. The benadryl may or may not help, but it can't hurt. I think it's worth a try until you can get him in to see his veterinarian again. I would have him seen though since he has started medications and it still seems to be getting worse. Just be sure to check labels and make sure the only ingredient is diphenhydramine (or diphenhydramine hcl). Some of the benadryl products can have pseudoephedrine in them, and you don't want that. I hope this answer was helpful! Best of luck!