It is important to ensure your dog is given his or her heart medication regularly, as prescribed by your vet.
You can also help by monitoring your dog at home. It is very important for your vet to have a clear picture of how your dog has been doing on their medication and whether they have signs which may indicate progression of heart failure.
To help you with this, please download and complete the logbook below.
It is important to familiarise yourself with your dog’s normal breathing rate.
In most cases, the resting respiratory rate of a healthy dog should be 15 to 25 breaths per minute. If your dog’s breathing rate starts to increase it could indicate that your dog’s heart failure is worsening.
How do I measure my dog’s respiratory rate?
Coughing has two common causes in heart conditions: retained fluid within the chest or the enlarged heart pressing on the windpipes.
Score the severity or frequency of coughing from bad to good. With a long standing heart condition, at least a little coughing is common and is often tolerated by your dog.
Once any congestion has been resolved with treatment (often within 5 to 10 days) a return to some exercise is good for the well-being of your dog and for the body’s circulation.
The ability to exercise also reflects the ability of the heart to function and circulate blood, so it can be a useful indication of how well your dog is doing. Again this is a simple scoring system, comparing the ability to exercise now, to when your dog was well prior to this illness.
