My Mum has a 13 year old yorkie which has been in good health up until a few month's ago when she started fainting "out cold" whenever she gets excited normally when first going out for a walk i.e. a few yards up the road or sometimes when running in from the garden. She has been recovering really quickly about 30 - 40 seconds then continues to walk no problem but these episodes seem to be getting longer and my Mum is now scared to take her out for a walk, We have been to the Vet and had various blood tests and Xrays done and he has diagnosed a slightly enlarged heart with a slight murmour and an enlarged liver but he didn't think the heart was bad enough to cause her to faint. He has put her on a heart tablet Forticor to reduce the strain on the heart but it has done little to improve things and now he seems reluctant to do anything else to help. Is this something we have to live with in her final days or has anyone any other idea's??

I would have her heart checked, does she also cough?  Edit: Oops see she is on tablets.  In old age it is usually organ failure that gets them, if not teh big C, so.

Yes she doe's have an intermitent dry/honking type cough but this dose not coincide with the fainting spells.
The vet who is a well known one in the area dosen't seem keen on investigating further, are there specialist for
this type of thing?

I'm really sorry to hear of your mums yorkie problems - it sounds exactly the same as what was happeningto my little yorkie who passed away in Oct - just interested to know if the fainting happened before she went on medication as our vet said the fainting wasn't related to her heart murmur

Yes the fainting was the reason we took her to the vet, but his tablets and diagnosis has done little to
help, problem is when we are at the vet the problem never occurs! and all his checks seem normal. Seems
a bit like taking the car to the garage the fault never occurs when they have it!:rolleyes:

Did he ever get to the bottom of why your Yorkie fainted??

People pass out when their hearts rythm is wrong so it doesn't surprise me and I think it is jsut a case of managing her problem for the time she has left.  My freinds Yorkie at the end kept passing out and when given oxygen revived, but then passed out again, as her heart was too weak to get the oxygen to her brain.

Sadly no we didn't. Ours started with a cough back in Feb, the fainting came along a bit later. I've been through every emotion these last couple of months and I'm at the angry stage at the moment convincing myself that it was the medication that was causing the fainting, but thankfully you've answered that! We stopped taking Belle out for walks for fear of her fainting as she still wanted run and chase squirrels across the field - Though the vet did recommend gentle exercise. Please be careful of her climbing stairs etc as Belle took a couple of tumbles (no damage thankfully!) Sincerely hope the vet can control her meds and she manages to do well. :)

Thanks Sandra, well Lucy started fainting back in May unfortunately a week after my father died, It was quite a rare to start with she would go a few weeks between episodes but now it is once a day usually at walk time. My Mum has 2 other dogs another 15 year old yorkie who has very poor eye sight and is somewhat deaf but otherwise in good health and a six year old Yorkie/Bichon Frise cross but we could do without this hassle so soon after loosing me Dad.
BTW sorry to hear about your dog, thats the trouble with pets they have to go sooner or later.

Just an update, My Mum went to get a repeat supply of tablets from the vet and our normal vet is on holiday
and there is a stand in there so me Mum took the oportunity to get a second opinion on Lucy. The vet said although
she dose have a heart mumour the actual cause of her collapsing is definately this http://vetsurgerycentral.com/tracheal_collapse.htm
but they didn't suggest operating.
Sandra in particular might be interested in this!

Thanks koala - I did enquire about this with my vet as I'd read about this on the forum. After her xrays he decided it wasn't a Collapsing Trachea. What have they decided to do for you mums dog? 
Sorry to hear about your dad x

Well our proper vet said it wasn't that because it didn't show on the Xray!! Same thing!! But the stand in vet said it wont
always show up on an Xray if it isn't collapsing at the time of the Xray but she masarged Lucy's throat and applied slight pressure
and Lucy started to gag and cough just like she doe's sometimes just before she collapse's, which is why she is convinced
this is the problem. Apparently there's not alot that can be done appart from keep her quiet and not too excited, the vet said
the operation is high risk and her heart problem makes it even more high risk! So me Mum ain't keen incase it finish's her off.
If Lucy dosen't run down the garden or get too excited she dosen't collapse so I think we are just going to play it by ear.
xxx

I know someone who has two rescue Yorkshire Terriers who both have collapsing windpipes. It can be quite scary the first time you encounter an episode but both dogs live fairly normal lives and mix in with their other 5 large dogs ( she fosters for a rescue but often ends up keeping the dogs who have medical problems and are harder to rehome).

Just an update, unfortunately we lost Lucy last Friday she had to be put down. She has got
progresively worse since January and gave up eating properly about 5 weeks ago. It turned out
in the end all the problems were due to her heart, she had a knackered valve which was causing
the fainting episodes and in the end caused fluid to build up in her chest and stomach. It was
a sad day but the suffering had to be ended, as she couldn't walk far and clearly wasn't happy.

Sorry to hear of your loss but be comforted by the fact that you gave her that last great kindness and allowed her suffering to end.

so sorry to hear your sad news my thoughts are with you all

I'm really sorry to hear this.