Heart failure or just cold and fed up??

[bunnycat]

Ive had Lexy just over three weeks shes a rescue dog and it appears we might be her forth home shes eleven months old a beautiful lurcher not sure of her make up but she looks very much like a large whippet she appeared to be fit and healthy. Whilst we were out the other week she had a really good run about with a small whippet a good ten minutes at high speed lay on the floor on her side panting recovered quickly and we came home. i thought nothing of this. Yesterday we had been out a couple of hours the weather was grim quite cold and wet. Lexy had been chasing about for a lot of this time not at high speed but for a longer period of time, I heard her yelp and saw that she was laying on the floor. I dont know whether she colasped or slipped over she got up when i went over to her and seemed ok but over the next five minutes she seemed really depressed this was by the university lake we continued on towards eaton park (this was our quickest route home) she refused to walk and was looking thoroughly miserable. She lay under a tree on her side shivering id taken off my coat to try and dry her off and warm her up mean while phoned a friend to rescue us. After the coat rubbing she made a recovery and by the time we were picked up she was trying to chase a squirrel. Got her home he ate her breakfast and got in my bed and has been fine since.
She also has a bit of a cough. I took her to the vets this morning. He has given her a course of antibiotics for the cough and wormed her (heartworm) and we have an appointment to go back next friday.
She seems fine today we had a quiet day in, Lexy has shown her disgust buy chewing anything emptying boxes etc
Ive heard lurchers can be prone to over doing it and just deciding they have had enough plus she hadnt eaten her breakfast, it was cold and wet and she can be a bit of bit of a princess if she doesnt feel like walking. She has got a tendancey to pull and lunge on the lead which could account for the cough the vet doesnt think its kennel cough.
I know none of you are qualified vets but does any one have any ideas? Ive been reseaching as much as pos online

[crcsnail]

johny would probably know more as he has 2 lovely whippets .but our greyhound and lurcher always have a coat on in cold or wet weather as it can play there kidneys up i believe and of course they do not have a thick coat.nice to see u on here hope all is well and please keep us informed

[bunnycat]

thankyou for that. She had beeen wearing her coat but id taken it off her when we had got near the water as she has a tendancey to swim!! I thought she would be ok as she was running around alot. But I guess ill know better next time Whats the deal with their kidneys?? Any info gratefully recieved

[Johnny]

Hi: This is strange.
I suppose there's a number of possible causes. Here could be a few:

1. Exhaustion - Sighthounds have a natural tendency to burn out rather quickly. Perhaps she was over-doing it a bit and her blood sugar level dropped? I have a theory that these type of dogs have lower levels of glycergen in their livers, thus they burn out quick. Our two whippets are usually quite worn out after chasing around for 5-10 minutes!

2. Muscular Pain - This can be either skeletal or perhaps more internal. A skeletal muscular pain is easier to detect, as the dog will definately develop a limp. If a muscle is pulled in the body cavity, or the inter-costal muscles of the chest, this is more difficult to see.

3. Heart Problem - The problem does seem to develop when the heart is beating very fast. Have you had the vet check the heart out properly? Perhaps it would be an idea to take the dog out, give it a quick run, and then take it straight into the vets to have the heart listened to again.

4. Skeletal Problem - The dog might be experiencing a problem with a joint? I doubt this though, especially on a young dog.

Advice - It seems as if the dog has had a variety of owners in a very short space of time. I wonder why this is? I wonder if the previous owners had come across this problem?
I would contact the kennels from where you got the dog to see if they know more about her background.
If it turns out that there is a history of a problem with this dog, then perhaps they migt be willing to help you meet the costs of any aftercare.
I know this sounds mean, but if you've unknowingly taken on a dog that is going to be back and forth to the vets, and has been passed through several hands because of that - then two options exist:
1. You could return the dog to the kennels you adopted her from (probably not what you'd wish to do), or
2. If an ongoing problem exists, you should inform them about this. If they rehomed the dog, and thought it was A1 healthwise, then they might be willing to help you out in some way?

I hope that things aren't that bad.
Obviously it would be best to just give her short bursts off the lead, and gradually build her up to longer times.

[bunnycat]

thanks for that.. I personally think it is the first one.. or at least im hoping so. It makes more sense to me that that is what has happened. A friend of mine suggested it might be her heart and it shook me up a little i will however talk to the vets again on friday.. do you know how the cough assosiated with heart failure shows itself.. with excercise? at rest? etc. She does seem a healthy dog shes alert, feeds well, shes keen to learn etc and i think her numerous homes are just a sad coincidence.. I managed to get her vet notes through her previous owner who was looking after her while she was rehomed(more of a foster home really). It seems her second owner had had her from about 3-4 months(im not sure if she was a rescue dog initially)but was moving abroad with work and they dont show anything much apart from being innoculated and wormed.. but this is good before this I dont know her history but I think there is an email address in the notes I will try and find out more.

Thank you for taking the time to reply

I have gone back to taking her on shorter walks.. shes not impressed

[Johnny]

I think the cough is just coincidental, and probably is sparked off by her getting short of breath when she's running.

If I was in your situation I would simply let her off for shorter runs, and then progressively build it up into longer ones, as and when she's ready.

Good luck.

[bunnycat]

Its good to know im on the right track. Today id put her back on the lead between runs so I could pace her a little bit. She had a run, wore herself out, lay down, panted, got up, trotted home. Normal. Her cough has all but gone since her incident last week so I dont think its because of the antibiotics but I had gone back to using her greyhound collar, I was worried she would slip it so had stopped (but ive tightened it a little and Im more confident of her behaviour on the lead). Make sure shes had her breakfast (tho not to soon before excercising) dont let her get too cold (or hot) shes nearly as bad as the children (tho not as bad as the husband)

Thanks for your help, I feel I can trust my instincts again and can go back to enjoying my dog

[robandjo]

hi
sounds like what happened to our greyhound'May' after she over did it chasing rabbits,she just would not get out of the car when we got home.our neighbour knows a bit about track dogs and had a look at her,and said she had cramps in her legs, and said he'd seen the same sympoms after a race sometimes,we gave her lots of fluids and she soon came round,you can buy some additive to put in the water to speed recovery,its the dog equivalent of a sports drink i think!?

[bunnycat]

I had been thinking about this and joking to chris about carrying around lucozade incase it happened again. But seriously does anybody know of any reasons why not to use something like that in an emergency? I know dogs shouldnt have chocolate etc.. Thanks for that tho

[Johnny]

I personally would not feed too much sugar to dogs.
An interesting link is below:

www.ghchealth.com/refined-sugar-the-sweetest-poison-of-all.html