Food and supplements for my Cavi with heart murmur

[Wendy EMember]

Hi all,
I’m new here, so hello! Lots of good reading here! I have a 5YO Cavalier female named Willow, who was just diagnosed with a grade 3 heart murmur, which seems to have developed very quickly (our regular vet did not hear it just 6 short months ago, but the cardiologist found it this past saturday at a heart clinic). I’m trying to research what the best food and supplements are for this condition. I really prefer feeding her a dry/kibble food. The vet recommended a low-sodium food (have no idea what I should choose – nothing seems to be marketed specifically as low-sodum), and supplementation with CoQ10 and Vit E. My head is swimming with everything I’ve found in just a short amount of time researching. Are these the only supplements you’d recommend? I’ve also read quite a bit about glandular therapy for heart health and am wondering what everyone here thinks about that and what a good supplement for that would be.

I found this website when searching for glandulars. http://www.pethealthandnutritioncenter.com/natural-heart-cardiovascular-remedy-treatment-dogs-cats-pets.html wondering about the Heart Tonic product and the Daily Multi Complete (which has glandulars in it). Anyone have experience with this supplier or these products?

I’m also wondering (and these might be ultra-basic knowledge to most, but I can’t find anything that will tell me): If I do a Fish Oil like this one http://www.pethealthandnutritioncenter.com/nordic-naturals-fish-oil-supplement-for-pets.html do I also still supplement with Vit E and CoQ10?

I hate researching this stuff because there always seems to be such conflicting information out there. Any help anyone could give me would be SO appreciated! TIA!

Wendy
mom to Willow

[Mom2CavsMember]

Hi, Cav lover! I have 3 and all 3 of mine have murmurs. Hazel has a grade 2 that was early onset and hasn’t changed in 5 years. She’s 7 now. She is on no meds at this time. Laverne is 9 and was diagnosed with a grade 3/4 about a year ago. She is on no meds at this time. Rupert is 7 and was just diagnosed this past April with a grade 5 and MVD. 🙁 He is doing fine, atm, and is on enalapril. I do give supplements like coq10 and fish oil. I have used others in the past, in supplements like Bio-Cardio by Thorne and Cardio Strength from Vetri Science. My vet likes to use Standard Process glandular supps. and I’ve used the Cardiac care one. I do know that homecooked or raw would probably be best but I do as good as I can for them. I am feeding a rotation of base kibbles, Wellness Simple Small Breed, Fromm Salmon Tunalini. I add canned foods like Fromm 4Star, Wellness 95% or Stews, Simply Nourish and also Fresh Pet Vital. They are great eaters! You can also find tons of info. at this site: cavalierhealth.org. Good luck with your pup, they are a special kind of breed!

One more thing…..I do know that Wellness makes a Small Breed Senior (only comes in 4lb. bags, though) that is lower, controlled sodium but it’s not grain free (if that’s a concern, may not be). Actually, pretty much all of Wellness Small Breed formulas have decent salt percentages (not outlandish).

• This reply was modified 4 years, 10 months ago by  Mom2Cavs.

[Mom2CavsMember]

There’s also a good forum called cavaliertalk.com.

[Wendy EMember]

Thank you, Mom2Cavs! I am just now getting a chance to google some of this stuff. When you say you are doing a rotation of base kibbles, do you mean you buy a different bag each time, or you rotate the three kinds with a different one each day, or what? And then you also add the canned stuff to it each time? My girl will think she died and went to heaven! LOL

And you supplement with Standard Process Cardiac Care, CoQ10 and fish oil? Any others?

I’m looking forward to checking out the cavalier websites too! Thank you SO much!

[Wendy EMember]

Oh, also: what % of sodium is actually considered “low sodium” – I don’t really have a reference point.

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