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The warning signs

Barley in May, 2018 when she suddenly stopped dock-diving

My biggest recommendation is to pay attention to behavior changes in your dog! Had we done that, we would have caught Barley's condition five months ago! 

About two weeks before the diagnosis, we started to noticed episodes of quick panting/breathing.  We dismissed this behaviors as Barley being excited. You see, Barley is a very excited dog.  She watches TV and loves certain commercials, she is obsessed with our treat-dealing mailman and she is obsessed with people.  She's always been an intense little creature.

I actually think Barley started exhibiting signs of heart failure in May of 2018, about five months before her diagnosis. Unfortunately we dismissed her symptoms as Barley being a better behaved dog.   Barley suddenly started walking without pulling on a leash.  She was calmer.  While she didn't stop activity all together, it was reduced. In hindsight one of the biggest indicators was Barley not swimming in deep water.    Later, as her heart weakened, she would only want to go to the beach or park, but would stop walking on long walks and try to turn around.

Dilated cardiomyopathy may have a sudden onset of clinical signs, although the heart disease has been developing slowly and insidiously - VCA Animal Hospital 

 Of the individuals who graciously shared their stories, I noticed most people bring their dog into the vet when breathing or coughing signs present. One individual shared that their dog was at the point where he couldn't breathe suddenly, Another individual wrote that last July (2017) he started coughing and not being able to catch his breath. He was completely healthy otherwise.  Another dog family shared that their pup has had odd breathing for the past couple of months, but we just thought it was because he is bigger and gets stressed out from our rescue dog... recently we noticed his breathing is heavy when laying down.  A separate family shared that their dog was at the point of not being able to breathe so we rushed him to the hospital.

Please learn from our stories and pay attention to your pup's behavior.    PetMD includes changes in behavior as three of the top 10 signs of heart disease in dogs:

  1. Coughing
  2. difficultly breathing
  3. changes in behavior 
  4. Poor appetite
  5. Changes in weight
  6. fainting / collapsing
  7. Weakness
  8. Restlessness (especially at night)
  9. Edema (swelling in abdomen)
  10. Social Isolation 

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