Hi,
My beloved dog went to the vets the other day for something routine and was told he has atrial fibrillation and she was quite worried about him. He’s only just turned 9 so not an old lad. Our last dog also had heart issues at the end (aged 12) so we’ve been through this before, although he may not have had the atrial fibrillation and as he was older, this might have contributed to his symptoms.
When our old dog was tested, he had started coughing a lot (like a honking goose) and had passed out after exercise, so we already knew something was wrong. In our current dog, he was absolutely fine (exercising and eating as normal). In hindsight he may have coughed a few times but this has been the odd one every few days (I thought it was hair in his mouth). There was absolutely no other clue.
So the vet suggested we start him on Cardisure (same meds we gave our last dog) and check him again in a week. He has had two days on it and is now coughing a lot more. I’m worried that this is making him worse or that we’ve started the meds too early. I remember with our old dog that once he started on the heart meds that he then had to take diuretics and we worried about the effect on his kidneys. From starting the meds, he went downhill so quickly and we only had 6 months out of him in total. Our current dog is younger and so lively so I’m hoping this will go in his favour. I’m not even sure that they have the same heart condition but having been through something similar before, I’m terrified of losing him and watching him get poorly.
I just wondered if anyone had any understanding of how this all works and what we can expect. Are we doing the right thing in medicating him before he shows signs and is it bad that he’s coughing quite a bit now? If anyone has experienced a similar thing with a fairly young dog, I would love to hear from you.