My senior dog fainted and had trouble breathing. Was it CHF?

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, thanks for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach! I am so sorry about Chandelle! There are many possible causes as she was a senior dog. Heart failure, a seizure that caused aspiration or non-cardiogenic pulmonary edema, choking, a severe allergic reaction, twisted stomach or an internal bleed. With out an autopsy we will never know. Again I am so very sorry for your loss!

Syncope or fainting is common with progressive heart disease and it is possible she may also require additional medications alongside the lasix which are diuretics which reduce fluid build up on the lungs, if fainting is happening. I would recommend an emergency vet visit to assess fluid build up on the lungs and to try stabilise ger condition

I'm very sorry to hear about the loss of your dog. It's possible that he may have had a stroke or blood clot secondary to his heart disease that traveled to his brain. Or, if he was regularly having collapsing episodes due to his heart (syncope), what you saw may have been one of these that was especially severe, as this is a common cause of sudden death in dogs with severe heart problems. If you want to try to get a more definite answer on what the cause of death may have been, you would need to have an autopsy done, called a necropsy in animals. Your veterinarian should be able to let you know where you can have this done, if it's something you want to pursue. Again, I'm very sorry for your loss.

I'm sorry your dog isn't doing well! Please keep in mind that I can't say anything for certain without seeing your dog in person, so my opinion comes from my experience. Dogs unfortunately can be very stoic about illness, and oftentimes they are very ill before showing any signs at all. It certainly is possible that your dog has been in heart failure for a while, and it's taken time for signs of it to show. As I said before, dogs can be very ill before showing symptoms and that does frequently happen in dogs with heart failure. Their heart will be failing, and it's only picked up when they suddenly develop exercise intolerance, coughing, or fainting when exercising. If you do feel the vet is wrong, then I'd recommend taking him into another vet for a second opinion. I hope this helps you!

I'm so sorry that happened! That is so scary and stressful. It may be a good idea to talk to your vet about having some chest X-rays taken. If her heart is enlarged, an echocardiogram (sonogram of the heart) would be indicated to see if she has heart disease. Other things we may find on chest Xray would be possible concern for cancer. Since Tally is 8, she is at an age where that has to be something on our list of concerns. Even without a heart murmur, she may have some heart dysfunction that lead to collapse. Additionally, though her ECG was normal, sometimes arrhythmias are not persistent, and a cardiologist may recommend telemetry (wearing an ECG for an extended period of time). Its even possible to have a significant arrhythmia abnormality without an enlarged heart on Xray, so if a cardiologist consult is in your budget, you might talk to your family vet about a recommendation. Please watch her closely at home. If she is vomiting or is not eating, if she seems very dumpy and lethargic, or if she is having a hard time breathing or is breathing very fast at rest, please have her seen today instead of waiting until Friday. I hope she is doing well today; thinking of you guys. My best to Tally!

Hello. I am so sorry for the loss of your beloved pet. He, unfortunately, suffered a severe cardio-pulmonary event, either from the presence of heartworms, cancer, or severe cardiomyopathy. He was probably sicker than you realized, & also sicker longer than just the past 6 weeks. We all try to do the best we can for ourselves & our pets & sometimes we just run out of time to do anything. I know you feel bad, but you have to be honest with yourself & know that even if you had the money, he may have been too sick to do much for him. If you loved him with all your heart up to that last day, then he had a very good life. Please accept my condolences on your loss. Thanks for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach.