We have a toy dog who was diagnosed with Mitral Valve Disease last summer. He has been taking Vetmedin. Unfortunately he is now in heart failure. His medication now includes Upcard and Cardalis. The cardiologist recommended that we feed him extra and said that the usual rules about fat dogs don't apply to heart patients. I was just wondering if anyone knows why that is? I wouldn't like any extra weight to make his heart have to work harder. Despite being in heart failure, he is enjoying his extra rations and is wolfing it down. I haven't dared weigh him yet! What does anyone think?

I don't know why but my oldest is awaiting test results to see if she is in heart failure, and she's lost a lot of weight, she was never fat either. Maybe they can't put/keep weight on in HF? I'll be interested too to read the replies. Milly was 17kg, she's now 15 despite having her rations increased and getting lots more (healthy) treats the last few weeks too.

It's called Cachexia & yes is linked to heart failure

Cachexia is the loss of lean body mass (LBM) that affects a large proportion of dogs and cats with congestive heart failure (CHF), chronic kidney disease (CKD), cancer, and a variety of other chronic diseases.

Hope Milly's diagnosis results in some good treatment for her chaumsong. I must say Billy has responded well to his new meds though the cardiologist says his prognosis is guarded. I guess I'll just have to keep an eye on his weight.

Thank you Ann. I will read up about Cachexia. At the moment my dog is eating like a horse and doesn't seem to have lost weight yet. But we will see.

I may be missing something here, but doesn't it make more sense to think that carrying extra (too much?) weight puts more strain on the heart?

> I must say Billy has responded well to his new meds

Hope he stays like that for a long time. I guess Billy and Milly now have a valid excuse to eat what they like then, every cloud etc etc

> I may be missing something here, but doesn't it make more sense to think that carrying extra (too much?) weight puts more strain on the heart?

I'd have said the same but the same MamaBas but as Ann posted "Cachexia is the loss of lean body mass (LBM) that affects a large proportion of dogs and cats with congestive heart failure (CHF)" Milly has lost 2kgs which is a lot from a small, lean sighthound.

That was my worry MamaBas. But it seems that heart failure can lead to weight loss for various reasons so perhaps the advice to feed him extra is to stave off the decline for as long as possible. I must say he looks pretty well at the moment, the new meds regime seems to be doing him good. And he must think meal times are like having his birthday every day

The dog will be losing muscle mass and the heart is of course muscle.If the dog was overweight it would affect heart function, however being an underweight dog also affects the heart as the body will start using up organ tissue to compensate.

> The dog will be losing muscle mass

Thanks Ann, that's certainly the case with mine, I was looking at a photo of her taken just 5 months ago, having a wee run after the lure on a race day. She had an old age concession and got to race the littlest dog there (a vallhund). She couldn't even do that now

Aw, that's a shame chaumsong. Let's hope you get a favourable diagnosis. How does Milly seem in herself?
When he was first diagnosed Billy had been coughing and was rather exercise intolerant. He progressed to having breathing difficulties which is how we came to be down at the animal hospital in the middle of the night. They're such a worry aren't they.

Milly is very similar to Billy, doesn't want to or can't walk for more than a couple of minutes and when in the vets the other day kept lying down, which may not sound unusual but she would normally require a memory foam cushion or a very soft fleece to lie down, she's never lain on a hard floor in her life. Even at dog training with the younger ones the trainer follows us around with a square of vetbed to shove under their bottoms for stays She sleeps most of the time but then does have the odd play, which normally brings on coughing and sometimes shaking. If it was any of the others I would say they have no quality of life, but she's always been a lazy girl, she's not that different now.

I hope we both get to enjoy their company for a while yet.

Maybe he meant about feeding too much and phrased it badly?

The cardiologist meant that I should feed Billy extra. I checked it with him and he said dogs with heart failure should be fed more. I didn't understand why so I raised it on here and Ann posted a very useful link about cachexia. When I went back to the cardiologist's report it does actually mention cardiac cachexia, unfortunately I just didn't understand what I was reading.

It happened with my cat who suffered from ckd and then heart issues.
For.the ckd vets usually recommend a low protein diet which doesn't help muscle mass but is thought to be helpful for other things .  We did feed more but unfortunately he didn't like the renal.food so it was a fine balance between renal.food amd normal.food to keep him eating