Canine Heart Disease

Heart disease in dogs might be a more serious problem than most dog owners have realized. Reports made by the American Veterinary Association have indicated that there are at least 3.2 million canines that have developed certain levels of heart diseases in America. Such canine heart diseases may eventually lead to heart failure if left untreated or if you do not make any significant change in you dog's lifestyle.

Unlike all other muscles in the body that can heal itself if allowed to rest, the heart is a continuously used muscle in the body that cannot rest, for in doing so would mean stopping all other bodily functions as well. What you can do is to help your dog lessen the stress on their hearts through a change in activities and lifestyle. Medications may be good treatments for the disease, but natural supplements made from powerful herbs or alternative therapies can be effective as well and these would be good ideas to take into consideration if you think your dog has heart disease.

Certain types of cardiomyopathy (heart muscle disease) can lead to your pet suffering from congestive heart failure.

Symptoms of a Canine Heart Attack- What you can look for

Just like humans, dogs can also have heart attacks if they are diagnosed to have certain heart conditions. Canine heart attacks can occur suddenly and your dog would simply collapse or would exhibit seizures. It would be good for you to learn how to feel your dog’s pulse to check if this is beating erratically or if the heart is not beating at all. Just be careful when you do this and guard against biting particularly if your dog is experiencing seizures. In such cases, there is an imperative need to bring the dog to the veterinarian immediately.

In some cases, the dog may suddenly recover after a period of three to four minutes. This may indicate that the problem is not heart failure, however, (and this is a big however) you still need to have your dog checked by the veterinarian right away. Do not attempt to administer CPR if the dog collapses. CPR can damage the dog's chest and ribs and should be administered only if the dog's breathing has completely stopped for no apparent reason.  

Natural Ways of Dealing with Heart Disease in Dogs

Prescribed pharmaceutical medicines to address heart disease in dogs are often administered if the dogs already exhibit symptoms of the disease. However, doing so would allow your dogs to ingest more toxins from the medicines and they might exhibit certain side effects. There are natural alternatives available in the market, including organic or natural canine heart supplements. These alternative treatments are proven to exhibit satisfactory results if used regularly.

An important step in dealing with heart disease is to change the part of your pet’s lifestyle that most probably have brought upon the disease in the first place. A change in diet is also required including providing them homemade dog food made with natural and organic ingredients and filtered drinking water.