Ok, I’m going to try to keep this short (
) but I need to start from the beginning.
A couple months ago my friend asked me if I feed grain free food to my boys, I told her that Axel is fed grain free but not Gizmo. She told me about her friend who just lost her two young dogs within a week of each other from nutritional dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM). So she led me to a Facebook group to do some research. I was hesitant until I started reading all these cases of these young dogs dying from this disease. Symptoms show up when it’s too late
It was horrible, and I felt sick to my stomach to think I’ve been killing my dog by feeding what I thought was the best food for him?!
So I went to my vet and just inquired with the girl at the desk if this is true and she said absolutely. She gave me an example of her friends dog who was on just a normal walk a week prior and collapsed, owner brought the dog in who was then diagnosed with DCM and then died within a week. So, now I’m even more worried and booked an appt with the vet for the next available which was a week away, ugh!
Fast forward to that appt. He listened to Axel’s heart and couldn’t hear any murmur, he checked his blood pressure and all was fine. So he said he checks out fine but the only way to truly rule it out was to have an ECHO done. So I said yes, let’s absolutely do it. So he sent a referral to a cardiologist clinic and I had to wait for their call. In the mean time I asked if I should switch his food, he said absolutely, that either Royal canine or Purina Pro Plan are the best choices as they are the only food brands that have a nutritionist on their team, which I knew already because of all my research, but felt good to have it confirmed. So I switched Axel from Acana to Purina Pro Plan.
Last week we finally had an appt with the cardiologist for the ECHO. I had to leave Axel there for the day and then pick him up and simply wait for the results from our regular vet. Ugh again.
Finally four days later I get the call from the vet. He said the ECHO showed no DCM at all, so that was a relief, but then he said ‘but’ and my heart dropped. He does have Mitral valve disease. He said he is so young and so shocked that he has this, it’s something that he would expect to see if he was an older dog. He blabbed on some more but I was in so much shock that I honestly don’t remember much from that call. I hung up the phone, picked Axel up from daycare and went home and cuddled him and cried.
Yesterday I asked for the vet to call me again because I had many questions. He called me at the end of his shift- probably prepared for me to take up quite some time which I really appreciated. Basically he said the murmur is really minor right now and it’s very lucky that I asked for the ECHO because now we know it is there and we can keep an eye on it. Because he couldn’t hear the murmur at the office visit he thinks it would still be a couple years until he would even be able to pick it up with his stethoscope, he said four years roughly. He said it’s very early still so no meds are needed yet. He said that he can see Axel living a long happy life still, even when eventually he will need meds for congested heart failure
I need to inform Axel’s Breeder and all the siblings I know as this is quite serious and something others should be maybe looking into to be preventative. Axel will need yearly chest X-rays to monitor the size of his heart, and yearly ECHOs to monitor the valve, and blood work also.
After our big hike yesterday I worried that maybe I was doing more harm than good but the Vet told me that no it’s really good for him to exercise his heart like that so not to do anything different, just keep doing what I’ve always done as he’s a very healthy dog otherwise. So my plan going forward is to spoil him, with wonderful walks and swimming and all the fun stuff and to take more photos! So you guys may be seeing more photos of our adventures!
So, the first call had me thinking Axel would only live a couple more years, but now I feel I have a few more to spoil him rotten with. I’m so thankful that I found this out even though at first I was so upset (ok I’m still devastated) But now we know and can monitor it. It also has me wondering how many dogs have this but don’t know because an ECHO is only done typically when symptoms show up or a murmur is heard with a stethoscope. Only reason I did the ECHO is because my anxiety of the ‘what if’ he has DCM from the food. Sigh.
Here is a picture to show his shaved chest, he has a bigger patch on the other side of him too. This angle makes his head look tiny lol
) but I need to start from the beginning. A couple months ago my friend asked me if I feed grain free food to my boys, I told her that Axel is fed grain free but not Gizmo. She told me about her friend who just lost her two young dogs within a week of each other from nutritional dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM). So she led me to a Facebook group to do some research. I was hesitant until I started reading all these cases of these young dogs dying from this disease. Symptoms show up when it’s too late
It was horrible, and I felt sick to my stomach to think I’ve been killing my dog by feeding what I thought was the best food for him?! So I went to my vet and just inquired with the girl at the desk if this is true and she said absolutely. She gave me an example of her friends dog who was on just a normal walk a week prior and collapsed, owner brought the dog in who was then diagnosed with DCM and then died within a week. So, now I’m even more worried and booked an appt with the vet for the next available which was a week away, ugh!
Fast forward to that appt. He listened to Axel’s heart and couldn’t hear any murmur, he checked his blood pressure and all was fine. So he said he checks out fine but the only way to truly rule it out was to have an ECHO done. So I said yes, let’s absolutely do it. So he sent a referral to a cardiologist clinic and I had to wait for their call. In the mean time I asked if I should switch his food, he said absolutely, that either Royal canine or Purina Pro Plan are the best choices as they are the only food brands that have a nutritionist on their team, which I knew already because of all my research, but felt good to have it confirmed. So I switched Axel from Acana to Purina Pro Plan.
Last week we finally had an appt with the cardiologist for the ECHO. I had to leave Axel there for the day and then pick him up and simply wait for the results from our regular vet. Ugh again.
Finally four days later I get the call from the vet. He said the ECHO showed no DCM at all, so that was a relief, but then he said ‘but’ and my heart dropped. He does have Mitral valve disease. He said he is so young and so shocked that he has this, it’s something that he would expect to see if he was an older dog. He blabbed on some more but I was in so much shock that I honestly don’t remember much from that call. I hung up the phone, picked Axel up from daycare and went home and cuddled him and cried.
Yesterday I asked for the vet to call me again because I had many questions. He called me at the end of his shift- probably prepared for me to take up quite some time which I really appreciated. Basically he said the murmur is really minor right now and it’s very lucky that I asked for the ECHO because now we know it is there and we can keep an eye on it. Because he couldn’t hear the murmur at the office visit he thinks it would still be a couple years until he would even be able to pick it up with his stethoscope, he said four years roughly. He said it’s very early still so no meds are needed yet. He said that he can see Axel living a long happy life still, even when eventually he will need meds for congested heart failure
I need to inform Axel’s Breeder and all the siblings I know as this is quite serious and something others should be maybe looking into to be preventative. Axel will need yearly chest X-rays to monitor the size of his heart, and yearly ECHOs to monitor the valve, and blood work also. After our big hike yesterday I worried that maybe I was doing more harm than good but the Vet told me that no it’s really good for him to exercise his heart like that so not to do anything different, just keep doing what I’ve always done as he’s a very healthy dog otherwise. So my plan going forward is to spoil him, with wonderful walks and swimming and all the fun stuff and to take more photos! So you guys may be seeing more photos of our adventures!
So, the first call had me thinking Axel would only live a couple more years, but now I feel I have a few more to spoil him rotten with. I’m so thankful that I found this out even though at first I was so upset (ok I’m still devastated) But now we know and can monitor it. It also has me wondering how many dogs have this but don’t know because an ECHO is only done typically when symptoms show up or a murmur is heard with a stethoscope. Only reason I did the ECHO is because my anxiety of the ‘what if’ he has DCM from the food. Sigh.
Here is a picture to show his shaved chest, he has a bigger patch on the other side of him too. This angle makes his head look tiny lol
I wish I had spoken up on here sooner instead of holding this all in but I’m pretty bad at hiding things until I know for certain what I am dealing with. Suffer in silence type of person I suppose. 
