24/7 Emergency
Realizing your pet has heart failure can be especially scary. Animals often struggle to breathe and become extremely anxious, which can make owners anxious as well. Knowing how CARE’s staff monitors and cares for your pet may calm your anxiety and help you understand how to support your pet with congestive heart failure.
What Is Congestive Heart Failure?
The term “heart failure” sounds like a sudden event, but congestive heart failure usually occurs over a long period. The heart functions, but it can’t pump blood quickly or strongly enough to supply the body properly. Blood builds up in other areas, frequently in the lungs, around the outside of the lungs or in the abdomen
Symptoms come and go, ranging from mild to severe, but the disease doesn’t go away and usually worsens over time. It’s commonly caused in animals by cardiomyopathy (especially in cats) or mitral valve disease (more likely in dogs).
How Does Congestive Heart Failure Present Itself?
Heart failure can be a complex combination of physiological changes and clinical signs. Most often, pets are hospitalized with heart failure after they have trouble breathing. Some also have low blood pressure or arrhythmia (uneven heartbeats).
Labored breathing observed with heart failure is often associated with pulmonary edema, a buildup of fluid in the lungs that decreases the permeability of oxygen in that tissue. It can also be associated with a buildup of fluid around the outside of the lungs, which prevents the lungs from fully expanding. A human with either condition might say they feel “short of breath.”
When pets have heart failure, they may show us they’re uncomfortable and use much more effort to breathe. The chest or abdomen may move more rapidly and expand more than normal. We might also notice that the tongue is not its normal pink color but a dark pink, even a little blue. Feet may be cold to the touch due to improper circulation, and the animal may feel weak.
Finding the Cause of Heart Failure
When a pet comes to CARE with labored breathing, doctors try to find the cause as quickly as possible. They do a thorough physical exam, a quick ultrasound (known as a T-FAST) and X-rays of the chest called thoracic radiographs. Many animals that have trouble breathing need to be treated with oxygen therapy and sedation before doctors do any diagnostics; these animals are so stressed that their condition may worsen if vets aren’t careful and patient.
When doctors realize the animal has heart failure, they begin treatment. If there’s fluid outside the lungs, they sedate the pet and use a needle and catheter in the space around the lungs (the pleural cavity) to remove it. If there’s fluid in the lung tissues, it must be removed by diuretic medications. Those usually come in a slow drip, which seems to work better than intermittent injections. Vets also give pets other medications to support their heart function.
Lots of Nursing Care
Pets in heart failure require a lot of nursing care. Nurses monitor their breathing continuously for even subtle changes in rate and effort. They evaluate heart rate, blood pressure, bloodwork (to keep an eye on kidney values and hydration levels), tongue and gum color, temperature of paws and ears and overall energy.
This must all be done while minimizing stress and keeping animals as comfortable as possible. CARE staff make sure pets drink lots of water while they are hospitalized and are very happy when they also eat well, a good sign.
Many owners ask if they can visit, but that varies from case to case. Doctors don’t want to interrupt oxygen therapy for pets in oxygen-rich cages by opening the cage when an owner comes. Some pets get agitated when an owner visits, thinking they’ve come to take the patient home; animals feel disappointed when an owner leaves without them. Every situation is unique, and CARE works to make hospitalization as stress-free as possible for both you and your pet.
Charlotte Animal Referral and Emergency operates just like a human medical center. It’s open 24 hours a day, 365 days a year; it offers all types of treatment, from emergency attention to board-certified specialty work (after a referral from your primary care veterinarian). You can take a visual tour of the practice at carecharlotte.com/tour.
