I have three dogs Chewey 12, his daughter Muffy 11, and a red-neck Katie Mae 7,from Florida. They all are Shih Tzu's. Momma dog Gizzy died last May from Cancer. My vet told me to get a real dog like a german shepard. Vet humor. All three are dying now. The two are dying from the cushings disease and on top of it they have heart murmurs and an enlarged heart. The baby is skin and bones and they just found out she has a low thyroid, plus an enlarged heart and a fluttering heart murmur. The vet told me to watch if they start coughing? Will I know the difference between coughing and hacking from licking their feet? Does anyone know any other things that can tell me when their enlarged heart is giving out? It isn't bad enough to get a deadly disease of Cushings but the poor things have to have all the other stuff.
Mary Gardner

I am so sorry to hear of your problems with your three, its bad enough when one is ill let alone all three.

Keep you chin up I'll be thinking of you.

My vet told me that the coughing due to heart problems is most noticeable when they get up after resting, mainly first thing in the morning. This is because the fluid collect around the heart more when they are asleep/resting and affects them most when they get up and start moving again.

Hope this helps.

Your right, It often comes on with mild exercise like standing up. It's quite a hard sounding cough which settles when the mild exercise ceases.

Regards, John

you could try reducing the sodium level in their diet to minimise the rate of fluid build up in the organs - we were advised to cut back to 0.1 - 0.3% sodium (by dry weight), sometimes if the heart failure is not too advanced, this can help relieve the symptoms for a while. Agree with the others re the coughing, it'll come on with mild exercise and not so much while they're sitting around.
Edited to add - keep an eye on their colour, you may notice their gums becoming pale or bluish as the fluid build up in the lungs increases. The heart rate and breathing rate will increase as the organs have to work harder (at one point Minx had a heart rate of 360bpm, and was breathing at 120 a minute) We were also told to look out for fainting during exercise, but not sure if that's dependant on the type of heart condition. So sorry you're having to face this with all your dogs, it's so difficult knowing that there isn't much you can do for them.