Whippets' Hearts

[soozeborg]

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Hi - I'm a newbie to this forum and am wondering if there is anywhere I can see an anatomical drawing of a whippet's chest cavity.

We have a darling whippet - 10 year old Yazmin who is a plucky, lively puppy-like angel. We were told very early on that she had a heart murmur, but she has led a happy healthy life until a year ago when she twisted her knee on the beach resulting in a cruciated ligament. We opted against surgery due to her age and the murmur and the injury healed using Metacam and she has been just fine and dandy.

About a month ago she began coughing. The vet thought it was most likely a heart problem and put her on a low course of the diuretic Fuosomide along with Vetmedin for her heart.

She finished the course of drugs last Thursday and by Friday her cough had worsened. We returned to the vet, and as we did not wish for her to go through the stress of tests etc (she does get easily stressed) we opted for a 'process of elimination' approach to her treatment. Prednisone was the next option. By Sunday night we thought we were going to lose her - she was very troubled and coughed all night long with her neck stretched out and of course we whisked her back to the vet early Monday morning where they x-rayed.

The x-rays showed her heart blown up like a balloon. Apparently 40% larger than normal. it is pushing the thorax out of position -- hence the coughing. They gave her a larger dose of the diuretic by needle with tablets to take at home and a continuance of the Vetmedin.

I mentioned to the vet that I understood whippets' hearts are normally larger than a regular shaped dog, but she disagreed with me and said she gives Yazmin 12 months at the most, more likely around 6 months.

My question to you, the whippet experts is - just how much of the chest cavity should the heart take up. Is there a chance that her problem is due to mainly fluid around the heart. If only I could find a picture of what it is supposed to look like, I think I would feel just a little more sure that we are on the right track. There is no vet around here (I am in Nova Scotia Canada) who specialises in this type of dog. We also have a resuced greyhound.

Many many thanks,

Yazmin's Mum

 

[Seraphina]

Sorry about your dog. I do not have any answers for you but maybe you should copy this thread and put it also into the Showing section. Just in the case some breeders who go there do not look here.

In meanwhile you should contact the breeder and let them know what happened, they should be aware.

There are several members here who would be able to give you some answers, try to message Eceni or seaspot_run

Good luck to your girl :luck: :luck: :luck:

 

[jinnyfizz]

I'm sending positive vibes for Yazmin and

I do hope that she will keep her quality of life

for a good time to come :wub: :luck: :luck:

Here is a link to a story about another little

whippie girl who had heart problems, albeit

a different situation.

There are X-ray pictures of her chest cavity

if you scroll down

http://www.freerangewhippets.com/Coco.html

 

[weathergirls]

good luck to Yasmin :luck: :huggles:

if you go into the NNWRF forum [its in with k9 clubs] there is a pinned topic MUSCLE CHART there have been some good links added which include heart conditions and charts ect

 

[BeeJay]

I lost my deerhound to DCM ealier this year.

I'm surprised that your vet took her off the heart meds once she'd started them as they obviously worked. However now she's back on them. I never had my dog tested either one vet said that he wouldn't survive the anesthetic.

The disease can progress v rapidly as in the case of my dog or more slowly. I've known of whippets who have survived and lived perfectly normal lives free running etc for over a year from the first diagnosis.

There might be some information on Dobermann websites because they get a particularly nasty version of it in that they can just drop dead with no warning.

Dobermann breed council There are heart scans on there.

 

[soozeborg]

good luck to Yasmin :luck:   :huggles:
if you go into the NNWRF forum [its in with k9 clubs] there is a pinned topic MUSCLE CHART  there have been some good links added which include heart conditions and charts ect

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

​

Thank you for your kind and very prompt reply.

Yazmin had a good night (and we did all need some rest!)

I am really keen to compare her xrays with what that of a normal whippet and I have trawled the Whippet Forum for the chart topic you have recommended and cannot find it - maybe I'm looking in the wrong place (that's not unusual for me!)

any clues?

Cheers,

Yazmin's Mum

 

[soozeborg]

Thank you - I have found the pinned items with muscle charts - didn't quite find what I was looking for but did trip over a link to The Merck Veterinary maual which was helpful. I have a message in to Yazmin's breeder too so will keep you informed.

This afternoon she sleeps sweetly - I feel rather more positive than I did earlier.

Thanks so much,

sue

good luck to Yasmin :luck:   :huggles:
if you go into the NNWRF forum [its in with k9 clubs] there is a pinned topic MUSCLE CHART  there have been some good links added which include heart conditions and charts ect

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

​

 

[robandkay]

I have put a link below to the Whippet Health Foundation (an American website). If you go onto the 'reports', page you can post a 'health query' to them, - you have to choose first from a 'Diagnosis' list and one of the choices is Cardiomyopathy- Dilated which I think is what you say your girl has.

Maybe they can give you some more information. Good luck. :luck: :luck: :luck:

http://www.whippethealth.org/db/DDB_Main.html

 

[carenza]

Sending hugs to you both ... we got our rescue wippy at the age of 8 from a local shelter .. on being checked out at our vets she was diagnosed with a heart murmur. She was fine for around a year and a half, when she suddenly developed a cough that wouldn't go away ... tried ab's and Benylin, but still horrid cough ... our vet finally decided to do an X-ray to try to determine the cause (he'd avoided it before because of her breed, age and heart murmur) and found she had a massively enlarged heart. He was kind enough to show me on the Xray how big it should be compared to how it actually was. There was a huge amount of fluid build up as a result of her heart working so inefficiently, so he gave her a diuretic jab and sent us home with some diuretic tablets and made an appointment for us to see a cardiac specialist in Woking. I was really concerned about the tests stressing her, but the staff and vet were all really good, and did an ultrasound without having to sedate her - to be honest I think that although a little uncomfortable (no soft surface to lie on, and cold gel!) it was more stressful for me than for her. It cost a fortune, but he was able to prescribe appropriate meds for her, which did help for about six months - she was on Vetmedin, Hypercard, Frusemide, Lanoxin, Fortekor and Mexitil (plus an S.A tablet at lunchtime, but I can't remember what the SA stood for) ... split into 8 doses each day starting at 6am and last one at 11pm ...

I also learnt how to take her resp and pulse each day to monitor it, and on the occasions when her breathing was very rapid, used TTouches to help calm her.

She started to sleep stretched out rather than curled up and her appetite began to deteriorate - she was always a foodie - as her condition deteriorated, which together with the increase in her respiration warned me that we didn't have much more time together.

Get some expert advice; the meds really did make a difference - albeit only for six months, at least those last six months had a quality of life and meant we could enjoy our time together - and ask the vet to physically show you on her Xrays what the heart size should be if you really feel you need to know this.

Incidentally, my usual vet (who is not a cardiac expert) got his wrist smacked by the specialist for using the wrong anaesthetic when doing the Xrays - apparently they have to use a specific one otherwise it can make the heart look bigger than it really is ... so check on that too ... (he just used the usual wippitt friendly one) ...

More hugs as this is such a stressful and scary thing for both of you.

 

[soozeborg]

Thank you so much for sharing this experience. It all sounds very familiar. I reckon if we had had a larger upfront dose of the diuretic a month ago she probably wouldn't have had such bad time last Sunday night.

Right now Yazmin is doing well. We go back to the vet for a re-check and monitoring on Tuesday, but right now her tail is wagging and she is doing a ra-ra-ra - all good signs.

I do understand that the meds will just make her more comfortable and able to behave her normal self for the next few months; I am slowly coming to terms with that.

I still feel that generally vets don't 'get' whippets - and in all the reading, that seems to be the concensus. So it is up to us, isn't it, to share information and experiences with such good people as yourself who have gone through similar times.

I really do appreciate the time and trouble you took to write about your girl - you obviously also gave her lots of love which I reckon is also important.

The photo taken this morning in thenew raincoats made last night - Yazmin with big Greyhound sister Nellie.

I will keep you posted.

Cheers

Sue in Nova Scotia

ps I used to work in Woking! small world!

Sending hugs to you both ... we got our rescue wippy at the age of 8 from a local shelter .. on being checked out at our vets she was diagnosed with a heart murmur. She was fine for around a year and a half, when she suddenly developed a cough that wouldn't go away ... tried ab's and Benylin, but still horrid cough ... our vet finally decided to do an X-ray to try to determine the cause (he'd avoided it before because of her breed, age and heart murmur) and found she had a massively enlarged heart. He was kind enough to show me on the Xray how big it should be compared to how it actually was. There was a huge amount of fluid build up as a result of her heart working so inefficiently, so he gave her a diuretic jab and sent us home with some diuretic tablets and made an appointment for us to see a cardiac specialist in Woking. I was really concerned about the tests stressing her, but the staff and vet were all really good, and did an ultrasound without having to sedate her - to be honest I think that although a little uncomfortable (no soft surface to lie on, and cold gel!) it was more stressful for me than for her. It cost a fortune, but he was able to prescribe appropriate meds for her, which did help for about six months - she was on Vetmedin, Hypercard, Frusemide, Lanoxin, Fortekor and Mexitil (plus an S.A tablet at lunchtime, but I can't remember what the SA stood for) ... split into 8 doses each day starting at 6am and last one at 11pm ...I also learnt how to take her resp and pulse each day to monitor it, and on the occasions when her breathing was very rapid, used TTouches to help calm her.

She started to sleep stretched out rather than curled up and her appetite began to deteriorate - she was always a foodie - as her condition deteriorated, which together with the increase in her respiration warned me that we didn't have much more time together.

Get some expert advice; the meds really did make a difference - albeit only for six months, at least those last six months had a quality of life and meant we could enjoy our time together - and ask  the vet to physically show you on her Xrays what the heart size should be if you really feel you need to know this. 

Incidentally, my usual vet (who is not a cardiac expert) got his wrist smacked by the specialist for using the wrong anaesthetic when doing the Xrays - apparently they have to use a specific one otherwise it can make the heart look bigger than it really is ... so check on that too ... (he just used the usual wippitt friendly one) ...

More hugs as this is such a stressful and scary thing for both of you.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

​

 

[carenza]

Lovely pic of two lovely doglets ... more hugs 'cos you probably need them ... enjoy the time together, it may be ages ... you just never know ... and if you start brooding too much on it it spoils the time you do have ... and the diuretics made a massive difference to the coughing ... glad to hear she's feeling a bit perkier ... if you want to pm at any time, do please feel free ...