How to Treat Heart Conditions in Boxers
Take your dog to a veterinarian if you suspect ARVC., Consent to emergency treatment., Follow your veterinarian's suggestions for treatment., Give your dog its medicine regularly., Discuss with your veterinarian whether the boxer needs to avoid...
Step-by-Step Guide
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Step 1: Take your dog to a veterinarian if you suspect ARVC.
It is important to get the dog looked at, so that you can lessen the risk of sudden death.
Your veterinary office has the tools and know how to keep a dog in crisis alive.
It's a good idea to call the veterinary office while you are on your way so that they can be prepared for your arrival.
This will give them time to secure a space and supplied for your dogs treatment. -
Step 2: Consent to emergency treatment.
If the dog has a crisis while in veterinary care, the veterinarian will give emergency treatment to keep your dog alive.
This usually includes intravenous administration of drugs, such as lidocaine or procainamide, to help get the heart back in a regular pattern. , Human patients with erratic heartbeats are often fitted with a cardio-converting defibrillator.
However, these have not met with success in dogs and thus are not used.Instead, the mainstay of therapy is the use of drugs that control the heartbeat and heart rate.
Boxers with ARVC take a tablet form of antiarrhythmic drugs.The drug most commonly used is sotalol, which is often combined with another drug called mexiletine.
Different drug cocktails seem to suit some dogs more than others.
Thus, another possible combination is mexiletine with atenolol or procainamide. , It's important to keep your dog on its medicine for as long as the veterinarian deems it's necessary.
This will require a commitment on your part to be consistent.
For example, sotalol is usually given two or three times a day.
This will clearly require quite a bit of your time to get it administered correctly. , Whether to rest a Boxer with ARVC or not is controversial.
The extra demands placed on the heart by exercise could precipitate a heart attack in certain cases, but complete rest can lead to weight gain, which places a different stress on the heart.Indeed, it can be exceedingly difficult to get a Boxer to rest, as they are high energy dogs, so that option may be out of your control. , Once treatment is started, success can be measured in terms of reduced fainting episodes.
However, repeat Holter recordings are also advisable to assess the effectiveness of treatment.Regular assessment can tell you whether the irregular heartbeat is being managed or if you need to consider changing the medication your dog is on. , While ARVC is by far the most common heart condition in boxers, these dogs can have other heart conditions, such as arrhythmias.Be sure that you know the signs that could signal a variety of heart conditions, or other illnesses, which include:
Coughing Wheezing Heavy breathing Exhaustion and Lethargy , Dogs under 12 months of age rarely show any clinical signs of ARVC and the problem mainly affects young adult dogs.
However, in several forms of ARVC, dizziness and fainting are usually seen.
Three forms of ARVC exist, with different signs:
Some dogs have ARVC but show no signs.
The problem is only diagnosed when a 24-hour ECG monitor is fitted for screening purposes and irregular heart beats detected.
There are dogs that show signs as a result of the irregular heartbeat not supplying enough blood to the brain.
This includes dizziness, fainting, and sudden death.
A rare form of ARVC leads to heart failure as a result of weakening of the muscle of the heart wall.
This is also associated with fainting, but can be associated with more classic signs of heart disease, such as coughing (due to fluid retention in the lungs), liver enlargement, and fluid in the belly., During routine vaccination visits, or if the dog is sick, the vet will listen to the Boxer's heart with a stethoscope to check for irregular heartbeats (arrhythmias).
However, a normal finding based on several minutes of listening does not guarantee the dog does not have ARVC.
Should the vet hear an irregular beat then a Holter harness is advisable to assess the extent of the problem.
Any Boxer with a history of fainting should be screened for ARVC.
Screening programs of asymptomatic dogs advise testing once a year after the dog's second birthday.
This involves fitting the dog with a 24-hour ECG device called a Holter harness.
This is because the irregular heartbeats can be intermittent, and they can be missed if the sole screening is listening with a stethoscope.
Additional screening, such as blood tests and a heart ultrasound exam, is necessary in order to exclude other health conditions that could cause an irregular heartbeat. , ARVC leads to the muscle of the wall of the right ventricle, one of the two main pumping chambers in the heart, becoming infiltrated with fat.
This interferes with the ability of the conduction of electrical impulses through the heart wall which contraction.
This leads, at the least, to an irregular heartbeat.If the beat is so poorly coordinated that the heart fails to push blood to the brain, the dog can collapse and die. , ARVC is a heart disease which is hereditary, meaning it is passed down from the parents.
The actual prevalence is not known because some cases don't show symptoms and some cases don't lead to death.
This means there are dogs that haven't been screened which have the disease.If you know there is a history of the problem in your dog's line, then you can be more proactive about guarding against the disease. -
Step 3: Follow your veterinarian's suggestions for treatment.
-
Step 4: Give your dog its medicine regularly.
-
Step 5: Discuss with your veterinarian whether the boxer needs to avoid exercise.
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Step 6: Regularly assess the effectiveness of the treatment.
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Step 7: Look for the general signs of a heart condition.
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Step 8: Pay attention to fainting or dizziness.
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Step 9: Get your boxer screened for an irregular heartbeat.
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Step 10: Understand what ARVC entails.
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Step 11: Find out if there is a history of this problem in your dog's hereditary line.
Detailed Guide
It is important to get the dog looked at, so that you can lessen the risk of sudden death.
Your veterinary office has the tools and know how to keep a dog in crisis alive.
It's a good idea to call the veterinary office while you are on your way so that they can be prepared for your arrival.
This will give them time to secure a space and supplied for your dogs treatment.
If the dog has a crisis while in veterinary care, the veterinarian will give emergency treatment to keep your dog alive.
This usually includes intravenous administration of drugs, such as lidocaine or procainamide, to help get the heart back in a regular pattern. , Human patients with erratic heartbeats are often fitted with a cardio-converting defibrillator.
However, these have not met with success in dogs and thus are not used.Instead, the mainstay of therapy is the use of drugs that control the heartbeat and heart rate.
Boxers with ARVC take a tablet form of antiarrhythmic drugs.The drug most commonly used is sotalol, which is often combined with another drug called mexiletine.
Different drug cocktails seem to suit some dogs more than others.
Thus, another possible combination is mexiletine with atenolol or procainamide. , It's important to keep your dog on its medicine for as long as the veterinarian deems it's necessary.
This will require a commitment on your part to be consistent.
For example, sotalol is usually given two or three times a day.
This will clearly require quite a bit of your time to get it administered correctly. , Whether to rest a Boxer with ARVC or not is controversial.
The extra demands placed on the heart by exercise could precipitate a heart attack in certain cases, but complete rest can lead to weight gain, which places a different stress on the heart.Indeed, it can be exceedingly difficult to get a Boxer to rest, as they are high energy dogs, so that option may be out of your control. , Once treatment is started, success can be measured in terms of reduced fainting episodes.
However, repeat Holter recordings are also advisable to assess the effectiveness of treatment.Regular assessment can tell you whether the irregular heartbeat is being managed or if you need to consider changing the medication your dog is on. , While ARVC is by far the most common heart condition in boxers, these dogs can have other heart conditions, such as arrhythmias.Be sure that you know the signs that could signal a variety of heart conditions, or other illnesses, which include:
Coughing Wheezing Heavy breathing Exhaustion and Lethargy , Dogs under 12 months of age rarely show any clinical signs of ARVC and the problem mainly affects young adult dogs.
However, in several forms of ARVC, dizziness and fainting are usually seen.
Three forms of ARVC exist, with different signs:
Some dogs have ARVC but show no signs.
The problem is only diagnosed when a 24-hour ECG monitor is fitted for screening purposes and irregular heart beats detected.
There are dogs that show signs as a result of the irregular heartbeat not supplying enough blood to the brain.
This includes dizziness, fainting, and sudden death.
A rare form of ARVC leads to heart failure as a result of weakening of the muscle of the heart wall.
This is also associated with fainting, but can be associated with more classic signs of heart disease, such as coughing (due to fluid retention in the lungs), liver enlargement, and fluid in the belly., During routine vaccination visits, or if the dog is sick, the vet will listen to the Boxer's heart with a stethoscope to check for irregular heartbeats (arrhythmias).
However, a normal finding based on several minutes of listening does not guarantee the dog does not have ARVC.
Should the vet hear an irregular beat then a Holter harness is advisable to assess the extent of the problem.
Any Boxer with a history of fainting should be screened for ARVC.
Screening programs of asymptomatic dogs advise testing once a year after the dog's second birthday.
This involves fitting the dog with a 24-hour ECG device called a Holter harness.
This is because the irregular heartbeats can be intermittent, and they can be missed if the sole screening is listening with a stethoscope.
Additional screening, such as blood tests and a heart ultrasound exam, is necessary in order to exclude other health conditions that could cause an irregular heartbeat. , ARVC leads to the muscle of the wall of the right ventricle, one of the two main pumping chambers in the heart, becoming infiltrated with fat.
This interferes with the ability of the conduction of electrical impulses through the heart wall which contraction.
This leads, at the least, to an irregular heartbeat.If the beat is so poorly coordinated that the heart fails to push blood to the brain, the dog can collapse and die. , ARVC is a heart disease which is hereditary, meaning it is passed down from the parents.
The actual prevalence is not known because some cases don't show symptoms and some cases don't lead to death.
This means there are dogs that haven't been screened which have the disease.If you know there is a history of the problem in your dog's line, then you can be more proactive about guarding against the disease.
About the Author
Emma Brown
With a background in education and learning, Emma Brown brings 12 years of hands-on experience to every article. Emma believes in making complex topics accessible to everyone.
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