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’Mr Humpycushion’ put my prudish sister into shock, particularly when Holly demonstrated …..

SInce my last post Holly has remained fairly stable. She has small coughing episodes a few times a day, usually after sleeping or resting when water can settle in her lungs, but these don't seem to worry her. We seem to have settled on a 'new normal'. After breakfast and pills we go for a...

After a tough couple of months we're starting to see things stabilise. The new pill regime seems to have stopped the decline and even helped her to rally a little. Over the last week Holly has been able to walk for about 40 minutes without getting breathless, and we've even seen her trotting...

I thought we'd have a nice quiet game. I had this image in my mind of my loving Labrador and I lying on the floor. Between us would be three plastic tubs with a nice treat under one of them. My attentive dog would watch me mix them up then gently overturn the right one with her nose and eat...

Holly’s body clock takes a few weeks to reset. We really enjoyed getting up at 6:00 (he says trying to put a brave face on it).

She’s on Lanoxin and Vetmedin for her heart. Prilactone is the current diuretic as she seems very sensitive to Furesomide. We keep the latter in reserve for emergencies. She also gets Fortekor as it helps the heart and has some diuretic properties; we introduced it for the diuretic. Her...

Holly is currently on two heart drugs to strengthen the heart muscles and conductivity, the letter helping to counter the scarring. Two other drugs are to help with breathing, one being a diuretic to reduce the amount of retained fluids. She’s on an antibiotic to kill off residual infections...

What a roller-coaster week. Holly’s breathing has been all over the place, but today its been a bit more stable. An emergency vet visit was necessary on Tuesday as her breathing was fast and laboured, and she was getting disinterested in just about everything. X-ray and ultrasound showed her...

Thank you all for you support. Our aim at the moment is to maintain Holly's quality of life. We've had to accept a huge change to her life, and ours, and are converging on a new normal. Life is now about shorter but more interesting walks (sniffs and puddles are her thing) and non-aerobic...

We haven't tried that yet. We started with furosemide which is normally very effective but Holly just didn't get on with it. We need to find an effective diuretic so I thinks its going to be trial and error for a few weeks. If we can get her breathing under control it will be a big step...

We were back at the vet for a check-up on Friday. Heart rate is up to 120 from 100, which is worrying. Breathing is still erratic with good days and bad days. She's still the same old Holly and wants to do all her normal things but runs out of steam after about 30-40 minutes walking. Last...

She still wants to play ‘chase me’ for toys but gets out of breath. We’ve started playing ‘walking chase’ games which last much longer.

We’ve just had a long session with the vet. We decided that it was too early to involve a specialist. He describes Holly as a ‘complex case’ as there are are several things going on, but we’re at the stage of finding the balance between the treatments. The good news: heart rate has stabilised...

The saga continues…. Last Thursday we decreased the Lanoxin as blood tests had shown it was at too high a level. We increased the Vetmedin to try and strengthen her heart. Over the weekend her breathing rate at rest has slowly increased from 30 per min to 48. She’s also resumed the nocturnal...

We tried her out on a longer walk today. We started at the Arboretum in the Forest of Dean and did a loop through the woods at her pace on paths she knows and enjoys. The route gave us lots of 'cut off' points if she was tiring. She was happy to plod along and sniff at things, even splash in...

Looking at various online sources the prognosis for enlarged heart seems to be 6-24 months. She's well advanced, but it happened very quickly so she has a good level of residual fitness. She's not in pain, which is a blessing. She still has her appetite. According to the vet its very rare for...

We had a similar situation with Cocoa, our last Lab. She had arthritic hips. We padded the boot with an old duvet and would take her on short drives to her favourite places. She would walk a few paces, lie down and smell things, then repeat for a while. Sometimes we'd have to carry her back...

Not a good day. Holly had a very restless night and has been very passive this morning, almost depressed. We had a scheduled vet checkup this morning and it wasn't good. Her heart rate is still around 160 and erratic. We're increasing the dose of one medication to try and strengthen her heart...

It's good to know there are lots of options. Chatting to the vet we're all focussed on quality of life, particularly walks as these are a big motivator for Holly. She gets bored by short walks in the local fields and loves muddy romps in the woods. She currently starts to flag at about 30...

This weeks vet visit brought more mixed news. The good news is that Holly is coming off the antibiotics. It was a long course to ensure that the infections was well and truly gone. Her temperature remains normal, and she’s having undisturbed nights. We've taken her for short walks in the...