Badger

thank you...I have had the opportunity to listen to his heart and it does indeed sound awful, we are going to take it a day at a time and see how he goes....he does seem a bit brighter today though x

I do hope you can get to the root of this and that he's on the mend soon ... be well Badger :flowers:

Whippets Rule said:

thank you...I have had the opportunity to listen to his heart and it does indeed sound awful, we are going to take it a day at a time and see how he goes....he does seem a bit brighter today though x

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I have kept oldies with heart murmurs going for ages on heart medication (statins and diuretics). Once one has the dosage right, they are like spring chickens. Regular monitoring is obviously crucial. I had one old guy with such an enlarged heart that I thought it would jump out of his rigcage when he was lying down - but as long as he had his "Magic Minceball" containing his meds in the morning he had a wonderful quality of life.

Fot upset tummies and colitis, I have found PROBIOTICS can work woders. Always keep some probiotic powder in my medicine cabinet.

Good luck with the Badger

lorna anne said:

Whippets Rule said:

thank you...I have had the opportunity to listen to his heart and it does indeed sound awful, we are going to take it a day at a time and see how he goes....he does seem a bit brighter today though x

Click to expand...

I have kept oldies with heart murmurs going for ages on heart medication (statins and diuretics). Once one has the dosage right, they are like spring chickens. Regular monitoring is obviously crucial. I had one old guy with such an enlarged heart that I thought it would jump out of his rigcage when he was lying down - but as long as he had his "Magic Minceball" containing his meds in the morning he had a wonderful quality of life.

Fot upset tummies and colitis, I have found PROBIOTICS can work woders. Always keep some probiotic powder in my medicine cabinet.

Good luck with the Badger

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Hi

I spoke to the vet and Badger is going in next week to have his heart listened to and a chest x ray... but one vet has said not to start him on meds unless absolutely necessary as there is dependency once on them. He also said heart murmurs can be very loud but not necessarily clinically significant...so we must wait and see.x

Is Badger a young dog? IMO he needs a chest xray and a heart scan, does you vet have a scanner and are they proficient at using it, if not I would personally ask for referral to a heart specialist. Other than that in the mean time you can do bloods on him for Pro BNP which will show whether he is in actual heart failure or not - a very useful test but your vet will need to speak to the lab as it needs special handling eg freezing. This could be the reason he is off his food, some dogs in heart failure go off their food. I would get things looked into asap as if it is heart the sooner he is on meds the better if it is that making him clinically ill. The cholesterol does not mean much on bloods but can indicate hypothyroidism but unles there are other signs would not worry. The amylase and lipase done on in house blood machines are now not classed as diagnostic - there is a different test needed to diagnose pancreatitis which is canine specific pancreatic lipase, which is only done at outside labs - this can only be taken while they are actually vomitting though - if they are getting over it will be negative.

As a first line I would get the Pro BNP blood done, you may not need xrays and scans if that is positive. Well worth doing as minimally stressful and no GA needed whereas he would need a GA for xrays which may not be great for him if he is already unwell.

Good luck

NickyVN said:

Is Badger a young dog? IMO he needs a chest xray and a heart scan, does you vet have a scanner and are they proficient at using it, if not I would personally ask for referral to a heart specialist. Other than that in the mean time you can do bloods on him for Pro BNP which will show whether he is in actual heart failure or not - a very useful test but your vet will need to speak to the lab as it needs special handling eg freezing. This could be the reason he is off his food, some dogs in heart failure go off their food. I would get things looked into asap as if it is heart the sooner he is on meds the better if it is that making him clinically ill. The cholesterol does not mean much on bloods but can indicate hypothyroidism but unles there are other signs would not worry. The amylase and lipase done on in house blood machines are now not classed as diagnostic - there is a different test needed to diagnose pancreatitis which is canine specific pancreatic lipase, which is only done at outside labs - this can only be taken while they are actually vomitting though - if they are getting over it will be negative.As a first line I would get the Pro BNP blood done, you may not need xrays and scans if that is positive. Well worth doing as minimally stressful and no GA needed whereas he would need a GA for xrays which may not be great for him if he is already unwell.

Good luck

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Hi

Badger is 13 years old...He was off his food but believe that was to do with the loss of Woody our other whippet as his appetite has now returned and he is behaving pretty normally.

The inhouse blood tests for pancreatitis do seem to be accurate as recently our boxer bitch had pancreatitis and in house bloods showed this clearly( amylase and lipase were off the scale...she was also showing obvious symptoms) to be the case....she was hospitalised and treated effectively( she wasn't vomitting at the time either).

Badger is going in next week, I shall call in the morning but he will be having a conscious x ray next week ( Woody had conscious x rays as did Bryn my whippet X a while ago... )as he will not be able to have a GA.

I will ONLY have him put on medication if absolutely necessary because once he starts, that will be the beginning of the end for him and other than breathing a bit faster than normal he seems ok ish at the moment.

Thanks for your advice but I work in a six vet practice and can only be guided by the vets there as otherwise I get too much conflicting advice and don't know which way to turn..I trust one vet in particular implicitly and will be seeing him to determine where we go from here...if he advises medication then we will start it. Referral is not really an option due to Badgers age which obviously limits our choices, as there is only so much that vets will do for a dog of his years and it would be irresponsible to put him through too much.

I would definitely ask about the pro BNP bloods, they are very useful, quite a new test so not all vets familiar with it. It tells you how the heart is coping which nothng else can do. Was just pointing out that amylase and lipase can be high with other conditions as they can be produced in other places in the body too, also we have tested many dogs which have been negative on in house bloods but the pancreatic specific lipase is high, so if tjis is a suspicion this gives you a definite answer, not just a possible.

sending best wishes for Badger from all here

Hi thanks for the good wishes.

Badger saw the vet again yesterday and he says to give Badger a little longer but he has to go on heart drugs shortly...we just want him to finish his antibiotics today and his pain relief and see how he is for a few days.

The heart murmur is very loud but systolic which is not as bad as it could be, however this afternoon after a play with James, he seems a bit short of breath so perhaps he will need the drugs sooner than expected..either way things are not as good as I would like them to be but all the while he is not in pain or suffering,I am happy......I don't know how much time we have left with Badger but we're going to enjoy it...we're off out for a walk in the sunshine...........

healing hugs to Badger :wub: :wub:

I am sorry that the news is not better but you vets seem pretty sensible. We have the same problem with Foxy who is also 13. We just take each day at a time and each is a blessing. Foxy does not always accompany us for a walk but has been pretty keen in the last few days. The day defore yesterday a squirrel 'MINE' (as allways) made the mistake of twitching it's tail within sight of her limited vision. She was off............... a pathetic twisted little bundle in persuit of happiness Unfortunately, she slipped and fell over, the result skinned shins and legs but was she happy!!!!!!!!! I have given her an extra steroid for the last two days to deal with and side effects on her joints from her slip and she seems fine. i do feel that it is importiant not to wrap ailing older dogs in 'cotton wool'. I would rather she had fun and less time with us than idle hours and boredom. I do hope that Badger feels weel enough to indulge himself in his favourite pastimes soon

So sorry to hear badger has been poorly. I hope he starts to feel better soon. Lots of :huggles: for Badger.

Good Luck to Badger and we hope he still has happy days in front of him. :luck: