Hi everyone. I hope you are all having a lovely Christmas. I have a nine month old female German Shepherd. She is an absolute darling and my baby. My husband and I were going away for the weekend in October, so she had to have a kennel cough vaccination. I have an eight year old Cavalier Kings Charles cross who also had his kennel cough vaccination at the same time. The vaccinations used were the intra nasal vaccinations. My Spaniel was fine after his. He has only previously had the Kennel Cough Vaccinations twice before as we dont tend to go away very often as I hate leaving my dogs as I worry about them too much. If we go away, then they generally come with us. My German Shepherd was unwell after her vaccination and developed the exact symptoms of Kennel Cough. She started to sound very nasally when she was breathing and started to develop a reverse sneeze and snored quite noisily when she was sleeping. I immediately took her straight back to the vets and he checked her over and agreed that she seemed to have had some sort of reaction to the vaccination. The vet said that her trachea seemed to be a little sore too. When he checked her breathing, he wasn't happy with what he heard. So he linked her up to an ECG and showed me her readings. Her heart was not beating regularly. Every so often there was a cluster of beats and premature beats. My vet named it as premature ventricular contraction. (PVC). I asked for a referral to a specialist in Cardiology and the following week after a series of blood tests and various heart scans and a 24hr ECG, the specialist confirmed that my pup has a heart problem. The heart beat is irregular and it is causing a small leak in one of her valves. A triptonin test (I think thats how it is spelt) was carried out to check her heart muscle to see if there was any damage and that thank goodness came back as fine. All the blood tests came back as fine also. The specialist was unable to confirm the cause of the arrythmia. I asked whether the vaccination could have caused this, however I was told that it was unlikely and if he was the breeder he would probably get the siblings all checked as well. I was advised that she needed to start taking beta blockers as her treatment. Sotalol was prescribed for her and I had to take her back 10 days later for another 24hr ECG to check on heart again. The specialist was quite pleased with the results as he said that she only had 10 incidences of irregular beats and clusters in 24hrs. I have been told to moderate her exercise and to observe her and if I am worried or notice any changes to take her back to be checked again. The specialist said that a lot of dogs dont live to 18 months when they have arrythmias as they can develop further myocardial problems, however if she lives to 18 months, then her prognosis would be very favourable and she would leave a relatively normal life. The specialist also said that sometimes dogs can grow out of the problem. He did say that most dogs with this problem die in their sleep and it is a very common occurence in the states. As you can imagine it is really difficult knowing that there is a possibility that my wonderful pup may not make it to 18 months. Outwardly she is a picture of health- shiny eyes, sparkling white teeth, glossy coat, and I was told by the specialist and my vet that she is in good condition and her weight is spot on. But the specialist said that there are not normally any clinical signs that a dog has heart problems until the heart problems are in force. I currently feed both my GSD and Spaniel Burns complete. They also have fish such as pilchards, tuna, sardines or mackerel twice a week for the omega oils. What my questions are:
1) Has anyone else experienced the problems I have had with the Kennel Cough Vaccination
2) Has anyone ever had a dog with heart arrythmia and is there any advice they could give me in providing the very best health and care I possibly can
Thank you ever so much for reading. I am sorry I have written such a large piece. But any advice or information anyone could give would be greatly appreciated as I love my girl to bits and want to do the best I possibly can to ensure the best quality of life she can have. Thank you everyone. Have a good new year.  I am new to this and just realised I have put it under behaviour instead of health- sorry about this. x