through your pet’s blood vessels, ACE inhibitors help decrease your pet’s heart rate, and help preserve the heart’s remaining strength. The most common side effect of these drugs is lack of appetite and vomiting. If that occurs, your dog or cat’s dose needs to be adjusted.
Inodilators, distant relatives of dopamine, are also called positive inotropes One compound in this group, Pimobendan (Vetmedin®) definitely seems to extend the lives of dogs and cats with CHF. Pimobendan increases the amount of blood that the weakened heart can pump by giving more strength to its individual muscle fibers. The drug also opens up (dilates) blood vessels throughout the body so the heart doesn’t have to work as hard. One study found that dogs receiving pimobendan and furosemide lived 9 months longer than those receiving only enalpril and furosemide. It has been used in cats, although it is not licensed for that species. (read here) Its use in cats is still controversial.
Another drug in this group that was once quite popular is digoxin. Because of its many side effects and the limited length of time pets tend to survive while on it, I rarely prescribe it. It is at best a medication of last resort.
The heart has a complex electrical wiring system to coordinate it’s contractions. When the heart is damaged, this system may fail. We call an abnormal heart beat rhythm a cardiac arrhythmia. Some of the drugs used to control arrhythmias are propranolol (Inderal®) procainamide (Pronestyl®), and tocainide (Tonocard®).
Less Proven Medication Options:
There is certainly no harm in giving these a try:
A Lower Salt Diet
Many veterinarians suggest pets with heart disease consume a low sodium diet. This is probably a good idea if your pet also has elevated blood pressure or retained fluid. We really do not know if low sodium diets are as beneficial to pets as they might be to humans. (read here)
Omega-3 Fatty Acids
Omega-3 fatty acids are high in fish oil. In people, there is some evidence that omega-3 supplements might reduce the risk of heart attacks and strokes. Based on this, some veterinarians suggest that dogs with heart problems also receive them. The makers of prescription dog and cat foods tend to increase the content of omega-3 fatty acids in the products they market for a variety of dog and cat health issues. (read here)
L-carnitine is involved in the process by which the heart muscle converts fats into energy. There is some data that L-carnitine supplements help people who have heart disease. (read here) Whether or not it helps pets is something we do not yet know. (read here)
There is a small group cats and an occasional dog that develop sudden heart disease due to a deficiency in the amino sulfonic acid, taurine. Once that link was discovered, pet food manufacturers added more taurine to their diets. Although we think more about cats that develop cardiomyopathy, a taurine deficiency has also been implicated as a possible cause of canine cardimyopathy . One study discussed taurine’s possible role in that heart problem in golden retrievers. (read here) Since it is non-toxic, many veterinarians suggest a taurine supplement for all their cardiac patients.
Other Helpful Things You Can Do:
Keep your pet’s weight optimal, feed a name brand high quality commercial diet or prepare one you prepare at home.
When you exercise your pet, keep its activity at a level a bit less than what it would take to cause your pet to breath heavily, pant or elevate its heart rate. Don’t give up short walks until you absolutely must. Dogs and cats benefit physically and mentally from physical activities and exploring new environment.
Heart Valve Disease Of Dogs And Cats:
I mentioned earlier that age-related scaring and distortion of the mitral valve is quite common in old dogs. The mitral valve divides the lower and upper left chambers of your pet’s heart. It’s constant hard work may cause it to fail to completely close and open. Sixty percent of dogs over 8 years old are said to have some degree of this problem. But less than half the dogs with this condition have a