GARSTON Vets will be holding a free talk about heart disease in dogs next week at the White Horse Country Park.
The talk, by small animal vet John Gould, will focus on dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM), a heart disease that particularly affects big dogs.
John explains, “DCM is the second commonest heart disease to affect dogs in adult life and I see about one case per month.
“The basic problem is that the heart muscle is weakened and so it is unable to function effectively to pump blood around the body.
“This is a disease which gets worse over time and so there are many early cases out there with no outward symptoms which we know nothing about. Often the first an owner will be aware that there is a problem is when their dog slows down with exercise, develops problems with breathing or a cough. These are signs that heart failure has developed.
“In the past there was no treatment which was known to be effective in this disease until the dog developed heart failure and was showing clinical signs, but recently a drug called pimobendan has been shown to be beneficial even before outward signs develop.
“It has become important, therefore, to identify those dogs which have the disease but which are not yet showing obvious symptoms. This can be done by a cardiologist performing an ultrasound examination of the heart.
“If a dog is diagnosed with DCM, prior to developing symptoms, it can be started on pimobendan and it is now known that this will prolong the time until the dog gets ill and hence lead to a longer healthy life.”
John’s free talk will be held at the White Horse Country Park from 7pm to 8pm on Thursday 3rd March. Places are limited so those wishing to attend should book their place by emailing enquiries@ garstonvets.co.uk by Monday 29th February.
