I have a beagle that is 14 years old and a couple of months. She's had a heart murmur since she was younger but within the last year it has progressed to CHF. She's on a bunch of meds, that help her heart to contract and expand and a couple of diaretics.

My question is...is there any natural or holistic way to help her stay healthier, ie:certain supplements or something?

Since she does take several meds in the am and pm, I've been giving her the all natural, plain, no fat yogurt to help her gut flora. I also feed her a very good grain free kibble and can food along with Salmon oil, Vitamin E and Ester C for her joints, since she has a bad cruciate ligament.

Thanks for any suggestions.

Sorry about your dog, Ray.

Our dalmatian, Domino, had CHF. Luckily she passed before her CHF got REAL bad. She never had to experience the late stages that can be so bad.

Sounds to me like you are doing great, though. I cannot think of anything that you aren't giving that is going to make any kind of significant difference in her health.

The CHF meds and diuretic that your vet prescribed are likely the biggest difference makers with this disease. I've never heard of a holistic approach that could have as big of an effect as conventional meds on CHF.

Out of curiousity, what meds and diuretics is she taking?

Ray,

I know nothing of CHF but have been doing some research for alternative modalities(got the lingo down ). The following links may help you find a practitioner in your area or at least point you in the right direction. Let us know if you find out anything new and exciting.

Keep in mind this crowd is easy to please anything that effects the BMs of your dog is a good read

http://holisticvetlist.com/
http://www.altvetmed.org/
http://www.ahvma.org/
http://www.theavh.org/
http://alternativevet.org/

 Quote: Ray Fajardo

I have a beagle that is 14 years old and a couple of months. She's had a heart murmur since she was younger but within the last year it has progressed to CHF. She's on a bunch of meds, that help her heart to contract and expand and a couple of diaretics.

My question is...is there any natural or holistic way to help her stay healthier, ie:certain supplements or something?

Since she does take several meds in the am and pm, I've been giving her the all natural, plain, no fat yogurt to help her gut flora. I also feed her a very good grain free kibble and can food along with Salmon oil, Vitamin E and Ester C for her joints, since she has a bad cruciate ligament.

Thanks for any suggestions.

Is this mitral valve insufficiency?

Is her weight good (not overweight)?

 Quote: Michael_Wise

.... The CHF meds and diuretic that your vet prescribed are likely the biggest difference makers with this disease. I've never heard of a holistic approach that could have as big of an effect as conventional meds on CHF.

I'd agree with this. Aside from general health support, there is no real alternative therapy for advanced canine CHF. The talk about L-Carnitine and Taurine deficiency is far more applicable to humans than dogs, IMHO. Dogs on any AAFCO commercial diet or on a balanced raw diet are extremely unlikely to have deficiencies in L-Carnitine and Taurine.

JMHO, and I'm not a health professional.

Mike, she's taking enalapril and digoxin for the heart and spironalactone and lasix for diuretics (if I spelled that right).

Connie, I'm not sure the exact terminology. She's had the murmur for years.

At first the enalapril was sufficient. Then the Doc added the digoxin. I forgot how he explained exactly how they worked. I think if I'm not mistaken the enalapril was to open the veins or to create less work for the heart so it does not have to work as hard.

Then he added the digoxin. It was a while back, I'm guessing like a month after having been on the enalapril. The digoxin is supposed to help the muscle, in this case the heart, to contract therefore aleviating excessive working load on the heart.

No she is definitely not overweight. She is on the lean side but not excessively. She gets around pretty good, but she's no spring chicken. She has developed, I guess you can say, a taste for eating those little, flying, light brown colored beetles. At night she will hunt them. She will hang around the lights in the yard waiting for them to bump into the light and fall to the ground and as they are flopping on the ground she'll just chomp away. Weird. Maybe she's trying to tell me she wants to be fed raw,lol.

Could possibly be that she does have some kind of deficiency and the beetles are helping with it. From what I know, that's what Mother Nature does to compensate for deficiencies I believe.

My dog is obsessed with eating Cicadas, he also enjoys a junebug snack in the evening.
I just chalk it up to being weird

Sarah Morris recommended Pimobendan(Vetmedin) when Domino was first diagnosed.

I asked my vet to research it, and he did. He came away so impressed by it that he prescribed it to her, all his new CHF patients, and even switched a few of his old patients.

Is the disease progressing pretty fast? You mentioned that the first med eventually wasn't enough and had to have another med added.

If the current meds are working, then switching meds around on a sick dog might not be the best of ideas. I wanted to mention that med since it did so well for mine. Ask your vet what they think.

http://leerburg.com/forums/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Board=10&Number=189127&Searchpage=1&Main=18970&Words=congestive+heart+failure+Michael_Wise&topic=0&Search=true#Post189127

Here is Domino's CHF thread. It has the links that Sarah gave me for pimobendan.

I know a lady on another forum who has had very good success using vetmedin as well. She has an elderly mini schnauzer on it and it has helped keep him active and happy for at least 2 years now. I'll be asking for it to be perscribed my Border Collie when she progresses past the early stages of CHF that she is currently in.

Just as an FYI, some medications used for dogs with CHF can be purchased through many pharmacies discount drug programs. I get my dog's enalapril at wal-mart where it is one third the cost as purchasing it through my vet.