Articles with heart disease

A Primer On Congestive Heart Failure

In congestive heart failure (CHF), the heart does not contract as well as it used to. As a result, it cannot pump the blood well enough to keep up with the needs of the dog’s body. The heart and circulatory system transport oxygen and nutrients to all parts of your dog’s body. The heart has four chambers: a right atrium…

by Dr. John A. Bukowski, DVM, and Dr. Susan E. Aiello, DVM

Canine Diet-Induced DCM Revisited: Results of the Research Review Looking at the Recent Rise in Dilated Cardiomyopathy in Dogs

Did you stop feeding your dog grain-free diet in response to warnings from the FDA and veterinarians about the potential of diet-induced DCM? In the summer of 2018 FDA responded to a red flag raised by veterinary cardiologists suspecting a correlation between new grain-free diets and the rise in dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM) in dogs. Alerts and warnings were published everywhere;…

by Jana Rade

Dog Change in Behavior and Collapse: Trixie’s Story

Watching your dog collapse is scary, and, unfortunately, the potential causes are all serious. The reason for a collapse is a sudden loss of strength, similarly to fainting or passing out. You dog might appear weak, disoriented, or showing other symptoms of distress prior a collapse. Potential causes of a collapse include: heatstroke anaphylaxis syncope seizures poisoning blood loss heart…

by Jana Rade

Diet-associated DCM in Dogs: Veterinarians Share Their Thoughts

Is your dog eating a grain-free diet? Are you concerned that your dog can develop a diet-associated DCM? I’m afraid that this article will not put you at ease. There obviously is a problem that is hurting the hearts of the affected dogs. The suspected culprit lies in foods that contain a high proportion of the following ingredients: peas lentils…

by Jana Rade

Canine Catheter Heart Surgery: Transcatheter Aortic Valve Replacement in a Dog

You would think that heart surgery on a dog is fancy enough concept. It gets better–heart surgery on a dog using a catheter. Sabbath is a 7-year-old Malamute. He was suffering from heart failure and would have died. But now he has a new heart valve. Instead of open-heart surgery, the procedure is performed by the use of a flexible…

by Jana Rade

Jana Rade

I am a graphic designer by day, dog health advocate, dog writer, member of the Dog Writers Association of American and an award-winning author. Jasmine, the Rottweiler of my life, was the largest female from her litter. We thought we were getting a healthy dog. Getting a puppy from a backyard breeder was our first mistake. Endless veterinary visits without a diagnosis or useful treatment later, I realized that I had to take Jasmine's health care in my own hands. I learned the hard way that simply seeing a vet is not always enough. There is more to finding a good vet than finding the closest clinic down the street. And, sadly, there is more to advocating for your dog's health than visiting a veterinarian. It should be enough but it often is not. With Jasmine, it took five years to finally get a diagnosis for her initial issue. Unfortunately, other problems had snowballed for that in the meantime. Jasmine's health challenges became a crash course in understanding dog health issues and how to go about getting a proper diagnosis and treatment. I had to learn and I had to learn fast. Helping others through my challenges and experience has become my mission and Jasmine's legacy. I now try to help people how to recognize and understand signs of illness in their dogs, how to work with their veterinarian and when to seek a second opinion. My goal is to save others the steep curve of having to learn things the hard way as I did. That is the mission behind my blog and behind my writing. That is why I wrote Symptoms to Watch for in Your Dog, which has turned out being an award-winning guide to dog owners . What I'm trying to share encompasses 20 years of experience.

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