Early detection of congestive heart failure in dogs and cats

Early detection of congestive heart failure in dogs

Congestive heart failure often develops insidiously – early signs are therefore easily attributed to age, especially in older dogs. Pay attention to possible early symptoms.

What is congestive heart failure, possible causes, early symptoms, and diagnosis can be found here:

Congestive heart failure is a Congestive heart failure where the heart can no longer pump enough blood through the body to meet oxygen demands. The reduced pumping capacity can also be accompanied by blood stasis and thus fluid leakage from the blood vessel system. The consequences can be edema (e.g., in the legs, lower abdomen) and fluid accumulation in body cavities (e.g., abdominal dropsy).

What are the possible causes?

Common causes of congestive heart failure in dogs are heart valve or heart muscle diseases. Less frequently, congenital heart defects, Cardiac arrhythmia, pulmonary hyper-tension, heart inflammation, or heart tumors can be underlying causes.

Symptoms:

• Lethargy
• decreased stamina and rapid exhaustion
• shortness of breath or noticeably rapid breathing during exertion
• nocturnal Restlessness or breathing problems
• difficulty breathing when lying down
• increasing abdominal girth, without the animal being overweight
• fluid retention in the lower abdomen or limbs
• unexplained Weight gain

How is congestive heart failure diagnosed?

In addition to the medical history and clinical examination, NT-proBNP can be determined in the blood. This biomarker can increase with increased stress on the heart muscle and provide additional indications of relevant heart disease. However, the value must always be assessed in the context of the other findings, as, among other things, impaired kidney function can influence the concentration.

With an echocardiography (cardiac ultrasound), heart structure and function, as well as heart valves and heart chambers in particular, can be assessed.

The earlier a relevant heart disease is detected, the more specifically follow-up examinations and evidence-based treatment can be planned.

You can find deeper insights here (dogs): https://petsvetcheck.de/symptome/hund/herzschwaeche/

and here (cats): https://petsvetcheck.de/symptome/katze/herzschwaeche-herzinsuffizienz/