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Old February 5th, 2011, 08:43 PM
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cassiek cassiek is offline
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Join Date: Dec 2009
Location: High River, AB, Canada
Posts: 622
Heart Murmur

Hi all,

Yesterday we took Sassy and Furbs to the vet for their annual senior check-up.

Furby is doing great... he's down a few lbs at a healthy weight, his teeth look great and his heart is doing well. He is starting to show some very preliminary signs of cataracts, but overall he's doing terrific (well, besides we still struggle with his allergies).

Sassy is not doing so bad herself for an old gal. She had her teeth cleaned last year - they are not too bad, but she would benefit from another cleaning we'll look at doing later this year. Her weight is excellent and she's in great shape. She is starting to show some cataracts which I've known for awhile. Vet also commented she has a heart murmur, which she's had for a few years now. A year or so back, vet graded her at a 1 on the heart murmur scale (for lack of a better word ). Vet put her at a 2-3 yesterday. She told me not to panic (it's like she knows me too well or something ), but if I started to notice symptoms (coughing, can't keep up with exercise etc), to bring her back and there are some excellent heart meds we could put her on.

She seems to still have oodles of energy, so I'm not too concerned at this point. I was doing some research today and came across some articles that mentioned a few supplements that can help strengthen the heart. One mentioned hawthorn. I'm wondering if it would be beneificial to start her on something like this? Of course I'd discuss with vet first, but would love to hear other's thoughts and experiences.

As of now, we do feed her a raw diet in the AM, Acana in the PM, as well as supplementing her with salmon oil for omega's and Recovery SA for her joints.
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My babies: Sassy - Maltese X (9), Furby - Shihtzu X (7), Brynn - Boxer (3), Diesel - Boxer (1)

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