Dilated cardiomyopathy

Ginny

New member
Here's an article that every breeder and OWNER should be aware of. Also, a description of what I saw with my 7 year young, Duncan, prior to his demise yesterday. Hopefully, this will raise awareness of this awful disease. When we echo/doppler prior to breeding, they need to look for DCM also. The testing should be repeated every few years to make sure the breeding stock hasn't begun to show signs of it.

Prior to this, he was absolutely fine. His symptoms 4-5 wks. ago were totally innocuous. After his post meal rests in the kennel, he would stand by the door, look at me, and have no desire to come into the house - strange. After being called, he'd run to me and take a treat. I thought he was arranging for more attention and food. He increased his drinking, woke me up for about 3 nights to go outside, and had loose stools. Off to the vet we went. His blood panel came back normal. We did a giardia test, urine sample, and sent blood to Michigan State for a thyroid panel - nothing. Vet found nothing when she listened to his heart. The middle of the night awakenings stopped, as did the loose stools. I mentioned to the vet that he'd gained weight, but it didn't seem important. On a couple of walks, he was dragging with his head down. I thought he'd injured his neck and put him on Metacam. He seemed better after a few days on the NSAID so I stopped it. My husband said he was fine while I was at the National. I now know that the weight gain was from the fluid building up, as was his lethargy. My poor boy couldn't get enough oxygen. Yesterday, he vomited once (clear with a little foam) and started panting. I checked his temp. 102.2, checked his stomach which was massively distended, did the acupressure point massage for bloat, and then rushed him to the vet. The vet also thought it was bloat until the x-ray showed otherwise.
http://www.ufaw.org.uk/DILATEDCARDIOMYOPATHYNEWFOUNDLAND.php
 

CMDRTED

New member
Oh how sad for you. You were doing everything you could think of. I'd be nutz! Godspeed Duncan.
 

Jager's Mom

New member
Ginny,
I may have missed this...

Once detected, is there something we can do to prevent anything (i.e. death) from happening?
 

nowhavethreebears

New member
From what I understand the heart muscle just "wears out". Only symptomatic treatment is available. I am doing some heavy duty research on this now though....My Gabriel is Duncan's full brother.
Gabe was diagnosed with SAS at the age of two.. He now also has congestive heart failure. He will be nine in June.
 

R Taft

Active member
So sorry again Ginny......As you said, so unexpected....another thing to worry about. I often wondered if it was something cardiac my Abbey died of..she was fine one day and at 7, whilst I was away, passed away suddenly. My hubby had not noticed anything, until she did not come inside and just collapsed in front of him..he tried to resus her to no avail, I always wondered :(
And I can imagine how scary this is for you Anita ...:hugs: to you all
 

Ginny

New member
Once detected, is there something we can do to prevent anything (i.e. death) from happening?
There's no fix for it. Just supportive meds such as a diuretic to rid them of extra fluid. Their lifespan will be shortened for sure. My vet had a Doberman live 2 yrs. post diagnosis. His disease was found early and by accident. The dog had no symptoms at all.

BTW: they've found a DNA marker for it in Dobies. Hopefully, raising awareness of this in Newfs will help us to get a DNA marker. This disease is a killer, just like SAS, and I'm betting there's more Newfs out there with the disease than we realize. It certainly wasn't on my radar...

Ronnie - I wonder how many Newfs who die from what we assume to be bloat (I'm talking about those that never get to the vet for proper diagnosis), have died from DCM. This presented exactly like bloat. Even the vet thought it was bloat until he saw the x-ray. The vet said he surely would have died at home either from his heart basically exploding (extremely painful) or from complete organ failure and I'd have chalked it up to bloat. Abbey could have died from SAS. Thank doG I've not had it happen, but I've heard that they just drop dead.

With the speed at which this became lethal and how subtle his symptoms were, from now on, ANY change in one of my Newf's behavior will have an ultrasound of the heart as part of the work up. As stated in the article, dogs used for breeding need to be checked for it about every 2 yrs. I just hope breeders step up to the plate and screen for it. Echocardiograms aren't cheap, but if I continue breeding, I'll be doing them... People ask why Newfs from reputable breeders are expensive. This is why! All these clearances; showing; the cost of breeding, whelping, and raising a litter is mind blowing. I can tell you I've never even come close to breaking even on a litter.
 
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takemebacktotulsa

New member
Thank you for sharing this information. Given how stoic our Newfs are and how extremely subtle the symptoms can be, sharing this, though painful, is really important and could help save some lives, present and future. We all know about checking hips and elbows at two years, maybe we should be thinking about adding an echocardiogram at that time, too.
 

Cascadians

New member
Thank you so much for the education in the middle of your sorrow, Ginny. Sympathy at the sudden loss of your Duncan. Will do echocardiogram also with the early symptoms and weight gain. Scary.

Such a big massive dog as a Newf having heart problems, tragic.
 

Lori

New member
I'm so sorry Ginny. He was a beautiful boy. When we found out Chance had heart problems the first thing I thought of was DCM. The cardiologist was surprised his heart wasn't enlarged. I told him I knew newfs were susceptible to DCM so I had been supplementing with taurine. It ended up Chance had atrial fibrillation and ventricular tachycardia. Took us a while to get the meds right. He dropped on me several times, just passed right out. Scared the heck out of me.

Unfortunately I'm all too familiar with DCM in humans. My husband, his two brothers and one sister all have it. His middle brother got very sick but is doing very well on meds now, same with his sister. His oldest brother ended up with a heart transplant, doing well after 6 years. When this all happened we had all of the kids screened and my one nephew ended up having it. My one niece had a transplant before we knew everyone had it. She died two years after at age 23.

I wonder if the meds they are all on would be helpful for dogs. Coreg (carvedilol) is the main medicine taken along with blood pressure meds. Our pediatric cardiologist is from Mayo and he asked if we wanted to do genetic testing because it seems to be familial. I wanted to but my doctor warned me that if we did it the insurance companies might be able to use it against us, to deny claims or coverage so we didn't do it. It's sad to me because if we could learn a genetic marker that would be wonderful. I'm glad they were able to find one in Dobermans. Thank you so much for sharing your story. It's good to make everyone aware.
 

janices

New member
DCM is one of reasons why I think it's important to do OFA clearances by echo. Early signs DCM plus trivial heart problems usually get caught by doing echo's.
 

Murphy

New member
Ginny.. Murphy had degenerative mylopathy. Is there any connection that you know of??
Hugs again for your loss...
 

Angela

Super Moderator
Jen, they are not the same. One is heart, the other is nervous system. Murphy had the nervous system one, like my SophieLab. Duncan was cardiac.
 

Murphy

New member
Jen, they are not the same. One is heart, the other is nervous system. Murphy had the nervous system one, like my SophieLab. Duncan was cardiac.
Thanks Angela.. I knew they were not the same thing but I guess the mylopathy part confused me.. :eek:
 

Joan Fisher

New member
I didn't realize you'd lost Duncan and Jilly within one month, Ginny! My goodness, your heart must be shaking with the grief of it. I hope you have some young pups around to give your life moments of joy from time to time.
 
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