[Emily P]

Hello everyone I am new to this site and really looking for help as in I have a 15 year old shitzu poodle mix named gizmo who is my life my baby my everything, well recently I had a really really bad scare he collapsed on a walk literally swayed and fell over had to give him CPR and everything. I never ever want to experience that again. Well come to find out he has degenerative valve diseases, heart murmur. I have had my dog since I was 10 and I’m now 23 he literally is my world, well he needs a low salt food and I know a lot of it is pretty pricey I would like a decent priced one as well. I do see a lot of you well reading on here saying all this mathematics stuff that I don’t quite get so if you could put it in simple termoilgy, I don’t want to forget to mention that my dog gizmo is actually on 3 meds as well he takes morning and night, he had fluid in his lungs coughing and really loud snoring so he isn’t in the best shape the vet did say all his other organs seem to be fine besides heart which is a real hard one for me to wrap around because now I’m always so worried after seeing him collapse. So please help with anything u can tell me I would greatly appreciate?

[anonymous]

I think you should refer to the veterinarian that is treating your dog. Considering your dog’s cardiac condition, I believe prescription food would be in his best interests. Discuss the options with your vet.
The prescription food cost more because it is specifically formulated to meet the dietary criteria that your dog requires.

[Acroyali]

https://www.b-naturals.com/newsletter/cardiovascular-diet/

https://www.b-naturals.com/newsletter/heart-healthy-diet/

Also, it might be worth checking with your vet about making sure his potassium isn’t being depleted by his medications. Ask to have his levels checked if you haven’t already. (This isn’t to say the medications are bad–heart disease is nothing to sneeze at and medications can, and are, life savers and life-extenders and helps give the dogs much better quality of life.)

When I had a dog with heart disease, he fainted once and it scared me badly. I’d never seen a dog faint like that but he came to in a few moments and seemed unshaken. My vet highly recommended adding fish or salmon oil and vitamin E for heart support (I use wholistic pet organics brand, as it contains both!) I also added COQ10 (liquid).

http://healthypets.mercola.com/sites/healthypets/archive/2010/06/02/the-silent-pet-killer-that-you-can-now-avoid.aspx

While it’s not applicable for every person and every dog, I did opt to feed my dog a raw diet. For a time, he went “off” his raw food so I fed him cooked and canned and he gobbled it up. He was around Gizmo’s age; while I feel raw is best if a dog who (formerly) ate a certain diet for years and enjoyed it then abruptly stops, there’s a reason. The goal was to keep food in him so we fed him what he wanted. During the time(s) he was happily eating raw, we fed him a lot of pastured beef, chicken, and turkey hearts for the naturally occurring taurine (crucial for heart function, and I feel food sources are better than synthetic but that’s simply my preference.)

One other thing. If you live in a cold weather climate, or live somewhere where you experience very cold months out of the year, keep Gizmo inside at all times unless you take him out to potty. My dog had a horrible fainting episode when I took him out to pee when it was extremely cold (sub-zero; we were outside for less than 30 seconds when it happened.)

I know, emotionally, it’s difficult for you. I hope some of the links and suggestions help. I wish you the very best of luck.

• This reply was modified 8 years ago by Acroyali.

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