[lachlanandmarcus]

Its very common in Dobermans and despite clear tests in the past, Monty Dobie got diagnosed with it yesterday at the age of 8 :-(( He had been having 'absences' over the weekend, zombie like, and it turns out it was happening when he got up quickly and the heart couldnt pump enough blood to his brain.
 
I know the Dobie variant of it is esp nasty so Im not expecting unrealistic outcome for him in the long term  - he is now on the fairly new drug Vetmedin to help his enlarged heart do a better job of pumping the blood around, which should help for a while. It has certainly made a big improvement already.

Despite this gloom I am interested in any experiences of it in forum members dogs.

[robate55]

My Tim spaniel had this. He was on Vetmedin for about 5 years when it first came out & appeared on a promotional dvd for it. He was on medication for nearly 10 years. At first his scan showed atrial standstill (top half of heart) & 8% contraction of heart instead of 24%. He did very well on Vetmedin so we could stop all the old medications.  However expectation of life for a spaniel with cardiomyopathy was about 2 years & I'm afraid Dobies do not do nearly so well. Perhaps he will prove the  espectations wrong loke Tim
Rose

[lachlanandmarcus]

Dont worry, that matches what I'd read too. Vet didnt tell me any of that gloom but it's pretty universal from all sources. But Im just grateful we get some more time with him as half of the Dobie cases first sign is when owner finds them gone apparently :-(

He is 8 and so if we get another year I would be happy, just glad that we took him from the rescue at 18 months after he had been living in a yard as a guard dog (not a very good one as he wags his tail at everyone) :-)))

[manian]

hi
sorry to hear your news. I can tell you all about cardiomyopathy/heart failure in humans but not sure how this is transferred to dogs. (although i did have a patient who shared her water tablets with her dog when it was diagnosed )
fingers crossed for you

[funkyfish]

So sorry to hear about your boy. Get used to counting his resting respiratory rate, pulse rate in his femoral artery and also the quality of it- how strong I feels. These  can be an indicator of how well he is doing and any differences to them noted and told to the vet as getting an accurate heart and resp rate in the consult room can be hard if you have a stressed dog. Have you had a work up from a cardio specialist?
 

[Fleecewife]

hi
sorry to hear your news. I can tell you all about cardiomyopathy/heart failure in humans but not sure how this is transferred to dogs. (although i did have a patient who shared her water tablets with her dog when it was diagnosed )
fingers crossed for you

Sorry to hear about your dog L&M

I have the hypertrophic variety.  Funnily enough, my vet knows far more about it than my GP 
Manian, do you have the condition or do you treat people who do?  I am always looking for info.

[manian]

I have the hypertrophic variety.  Funnily enough, my vet knows far more about it than my GP 
Manian, do you have the condition or do you treat people who do?  I am always looking for info.

Hi FW
I look after people with all types of heart failure/cardiomyopathy.
The British Heart Foundation has cardiac nurses supporting heart patients in most areas of the country (a bit like macmillan do).
They also have a heart helpline number for support
where abouts are you

[lachlanandmarcus]

So sorry to hear about your boy. Get used to counting his resting respiratory rate, pulse rate in his femoral artery and also the quality of it- how strong I feels. These  can be an indicator of how well he is doing and any differences to them noted and told to the vet as getting an accurate heart and resp rate in the consult room can be hard if you have a stressed dog. Have you had a work up from a cardio specialist?

Hi thankyou for this, I have to take him back in 2 weeks for a review so will get the vet to show me how to do that. He is quite calm at the vets, thankfully so long as he comes in the back way avoiding the other mutts! There hasnt been a work up from a cardio specialist, what does that involve? Maybe they dont feel its warranted given the heart evidence is so clear and the symptoms at home just comfirming (and also in an 8yo Doberman there isnt much they can do other than the Vetmedin that is already being done)?

[Fleecewife]

I have the hypertrophic variety.  Funnily enough, my vet knows far more about it than my GP 
Manian, do you have the condition or do you treat people who do?  I am always looking for info.

Hi FW
I look after people with all types of heart failure/cardiomyopathy.
The British Heart Foundation has cardiac nurses supporting heart patients in most areas of the country (a bit like macmillan do).
They also have a heart helpline number for support
where abouts are you

Hi Manian

I've pm'd you 

[sabrina]

What a worry for you, 

[funkyfish]

Yes I guess it's pretty obvious, I'm a bit paranoid bout mine and maybe do more then neccessy. I'd go for ultrasound scan and chest x-ray if only to have a comparison for he future, but I guess if you know what the problem is, it's not really going to change the treatment. But it may tell you if he already has (but hopefully doesn't !!) have any fluid on his lungs etc.

Vetmedin is a fab drug! Had a collapsed cavie one summer in acute heart failure, popped one up his backside as he was too poorly to push ondown his throat. Improved in minuets and did well for another year!

[funkyfish]

Forgot to add fish oils have been shown to help the heart muscle, to improve the quality of it and lessen the instances of oxygen starvation to parts of it. The amount and quality of it has to be correct. There is a good supplement called Cardiguard- a pump container with oils in it. One of the vetnurses I work with has it for her Cavie and she says it helps.

[lachlanandmarcus]

Thank you for that info funkyfish, really helpful stuff :-)))

Vet asked when he examined him whether he had any cough or vomiting, and thankfully I could answer no. But that isnt to say there isnt fluid, just not affecting him too badly yet.

At times he is bouncing off the walls like normal, barking at the geese and horses, but although the drug is helping a lot it isnt completely eradicating symptoms. But at the moment quality of life is still definitely good, when it isnt, I will have to be the brave one :-(