Hi, yesterday was a horrible day...my 7.5 year old Lily collapsed and after we rushed her to vet she was diagnosed with heart murmur stage 5. It came out of nowhere. 6 month ago vet told us she is STARTING to show some signs and yesterday she was coughing and then fainted and urinated and I thought she will die. It is my first dog and I never exsperience seeing dog die or beying this ill. Its heart breaking.

She is better now and on medications. I have all this questions and I am looking for someone to please help me with the answers. Will she be with us for months, years? I travel a lot for work and I am scarred she will die alone or will suffer. I just want to know what to exspect? How will I know the end is close? When will I know if I need to let her go so she will stop sufferring? Will she get worse sudden or will it progress?

I am in absolute panic and I just want my sweet girl to be ok. And I want to make sure I am preparred, as yesterday I was in absolute devastation.

There are no definitive answers. I assume that Lily has been put onto medication for life now? I don't want to give you false hope as anything can happen and all dogs are different, but my Cavalier Rufus went from a 0 to a grade 6 as fast as this, when he was 8 years old, and he had many collapses. My vet gave him just a few weeks to live. Yet Rufus lived until he was 15 years, 2 months and 2 days old. My mother in law had a Cavalier from the same breeder, he had just a grade 3 but instead he was very overweight -more than twice what he should be. He only made it to 10.

You are going to find many different experiences.  I had one girl, age 8, who was put on heart meds and only lasted 12 weeks.  Yet 2 others lasted for several years.  You have a breed known for heart disease (as I do.)

Just love her while you can, and try not to leave her for lengthy periods alone.  When she gives you "the look," love her enough to let her go.  A loving owner takes their pain away, and makes it their own.

Thank you for your reply Goldmali. Yes Lily is on heart meds for life and also on diuretic to drain water from her lungs. She seems better but gets tired more often. She is not overweight, but I cannot belive there were no simptoms until she collapsed.

When Rufus collaplse, do you take him to vet every time? Its really scary....what do you do when this happens?

Im sorry about your loss :( I don't know what I will do when this day comes, I feel powereless....

JeanSW - my son and hysband are home with her every evening we also have second dog, older one, Lola she is 12....I have no idea what is "the look". I read that you know when its time to let your dog go and you see "the look" in there eyes, but I never had to deal with this before. Both of my girls are so happy and we take them to cottage by the lake every weekend to run around...and Lily getting sick out of nowhere just scarred all of us. When they die from this heart condition, do they suffer? Are they in pain? How will I know what to do?

Are you saying that she has no human company at all during the day?  I would be organising a dog sitter.  Preferably someone with more dog knowledge than yourself.

Its just her and Lola for about 5 hours a day Mon - Fri. The rest of the time they are not alone. How would dog sitter with more knowlidge will help my Lily with her heart condition? Not sure I understand what you mean?

Dont forget  u will be working closely with your vet assuming you have a decent vet .they arnt there just to dish out meds here and there but also will answer questions specific to your dog and explain what u dont understand and how best to deal with things . Anything u are unsure about give them a ring and build.that relationship

If she should collapse then speak to them and ask if they need to see here

As for.the look tbh I have found when things start going down hill u do get an instinct coupled with an opinion from the vet as to what can be done and if its time to consider giving your dog peace. For me and I believe many others its quality of life over that extra week that's important . The extra time is often for us when u step back and think unemotionally
As for her being alone that's a hard one as if anything were to happen really fast its sods law it will happen in the 15 mins u pop out inspite of any other arrangements u .may make.  However if u do have someone who can pop in it may give u more confidence u haven't missed something especially if they are experienced dog people
I hope you have many good years together. It's very hard more so for us as we know the future they live in the  now without any of those fears we have
I am dealing g with a cat with kidney disease just diagnosed and fnd I spend my time interpreting his every move when he is actually happily going about his daily life as he always has .
All the best and ..make a friend of.your vet mine are amazing  with the support stuff for me

Much of what you need to know has been said already here.  I've not had to deal with hearts, although both my two here, Whippet (11) and Basset (10) have heart murmurs.   Neither is on medication - yet.   I would just say that none of us can realistically be watching our animals 24/7 - she might collapse and die during the night when you are all at home as much as when you are not at home.

'In their eyes'.   I had a diagnosis with one, after I'd found a mass in his neck, of lymphoma.   Given his age at the time, we elected not to give him any treatment, just to let him live his days.  I spent the first months jumping at every odd behaviour until by around 6 months, after I'd gone into denial big time (they were wrong!) he suddenly collapsed.   Didn't come for his evening meal with the others.  That was the end for him.   So no 'there in their eyes' because you'd never have known about his diagnosis from how he was until the final day.  

However, with most of mine, I'd know well enough when they'd had enough and life was too much of a burden for them.   And yes, they had 'the look'.  I even had one who, after weeks of not being at all well, spent a final night in her crate, with a terrible discharge going on.  I then had her on the sofa (on a pad) and kneeling in front of her talking to her, she gently licked my nose and I just knew she was asking me to let her go, and that it was ok to do that.   Makes me get tearful just writing this.

My advice to you is to talk all of this through with your vet who should be willing to make sure you knew how to best handle your dog with this.

MamaBas and furriefriends - thank you! I appreshiate you helping me with your exsperience. Thank you. My Lily is still with us and she is ok - and I am gratefull for this.