# Vizslas with heart problems?



## minnere (Jul 8, 2010)

Hey all. I'm posting this for a very good friend. She has a vizsla, a litter mate to my Pacer, and he is about 14 mths. old. He and Pacer get together about once a month and we go for 2 hour hikes where they run off leash like madmen! Sherman, her V, gave us all a terrible scare yesterday. She took him out for one of their usual walks, we weren't with her. Sherman collapsed in the woods, went over layer down under a tree and wouldn't get up. She had to call her daughter to help get him out of the woods and took him straight to the vet. The vet ran some blood work, but she seems to think it is a heart problem. Is this common in vizslas? Could he have suddenly developed this? Like I said we go on longer walks than what she did yesterday and he has always been fine. She is taking him for an EKG next week.
On a side note, the night before Sherman had gotten up twice, uncharacteristically, and haD a little bit of diarrhea. His blood work revealed that his liver levels were abnormal. The vet said hencould possibly have gotten into so,something toxic. What do you guys think? 
Any info helps as both she and I are upset. Sherman may never be able to run off leash again according to the vet!


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## mswhipple (Mar 7, 2011)

It could be some sort of congenital heart defect, OR (and I'm just throwing this out there) maybe it was due to heat stroke. I just read recently that just like humans, dogs are susceptible to heat stroke in very hot weather. In severe cases, it can even be fatal. Was it extremely hot the day of the 2-hour hike?

p.s. Willie once laid down like that and wouldn't (or couldn't) get up, and it was later determined that he was just suffering from bad gas pains. Young dogs with their brand new gastrointestinal systems can be prone to gas attacks, which really hurt. If that was the situation with Sherman, it makes a strong case for him getting into something nasty and eating it. We all know that happens sometimes. Maybe all he needed was a TUMS for the tummy.


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## minnere (Jul 8, 2010)

It wasn't extremely hot during the walk, maybe mid-70's. I am hoping that he just got into something. The vet is going to recheck liver levels and do bloodwork again tomorrow. Can you imagine your V never being able to run off leash again!? Mine would be crazy!


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## gunnr (Aug 14, 2009)

What was the RBC ( Red Blood Cell Count ) in the blood work?
One of the V's I had in the past, Silkcut, exhibited a symptom very close to this. We, the vet and I, thought he was "just tired", or got into something. What was happening, was that some form of an auto immune disorder was killing off his red blood cells. The RBC's went down very quickly, so any "lowish" RBC count would have me extremely concerned.
I've learned since then that V's don't" get tired". They run till they drop, rest a bit, get back up and do it again, but they don't get tired as general condition.
Peel back his lips and look at the gums and insides of the lips. They should be a deep bright pink, and if you pinch them they should return to bright pink immediately, and not stay a whitish color for any length of time.


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## kellygh (Oct 25, 2010)

Oh my! I hope Sherman is O.K. I will be following this post to see what is found out. I'll keep my fingers crossed for the best outcome possible. Gunnr, were you able to manage Silkcut's autoimmune dx? If you prefer not to answer, I understand. Best wishes to Sherman.


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## minnere (Jul 8, 2010)

Gunnr, the only thing she said was off in the blood work were his liver levels, which is why the vet said it was possible that he got into something toxic. She did say that when he collapsed his lips were kind of grayish??? I don't know what that means but she did say they were't his normal color.


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## gunnr (Aug 14, 2009)

minnere

Hopefully, with fingers crossed, it's as the Vet said; something he got into.

If it's the same type of thing Silkcut ran into though. It progressed really, really fast. 
Silkcut had normal RBC's in a Febuary Vet check, by the time we "noticed the difference" , 6 weeks later on a walk through the forrest, he had dropped to 22% RBC's, within a week he was below 12% even with blood transfusions. We lost him about a week later. A 6 year old male Vizsla, who was a spectacular physical dog, was gone. To this day I still get down on myself and believe that there must have been something I could have seen, or observed, to catch it earlier.

I'm not writing this to get you upset, or alarmed. I'm just trying to aid you in making sure the Vet rules out something like Silkcut went through as soon as possible. 
I'm really hoping the poor Sherman just got into something he shouldn't have.


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## JillandDan (Sep 8, 2010)

I am so sorry to hear about Sherman and hope it is just something that he got into and will pass. 
We had a similar scare with Holley 2 weeks ago. Her and I were out walking. It was very hot so we cut it alot shorter than usual. I didn't want to take her at all because of the heat but she has that little internal alarm clock that told her it was time to go and she persisted. We were walking back to the apartment in the hallway. All of a sudden she collapes and then rolled onto her back. I quickly turned her over to her tummy and she was shaking a little. Not like a seizure just scared because she didn't know what happened. I immediately picked her up and ran up 2 flights of steps into the air conditioned apartment yelling for Dan to come help. We put her in front of the fan and got a wet towel to drape on her while I called the vet. We looked at her gums and everything looked okay. We ended up going to the emergency room to make sure it was due to the heat and not something else. They took her temp and listened to her heart and lungs but found nothing wrong. The vet stated that we now need to keep a journal in case this happens again. I sincerely hope not.


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## AfroViz (Jun 26, 2011)

I lost my first Viszla at 7 months. No warning. She went in for her spay and had a heart attack. They worked on her for 2 hours and couldn't get her back. Congenital heart defect. It can happen, and your friend is wise to get that ECG and rule it out.

Wishing Sherman and his worried Mom all the very best.


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## datacan (May 15, 2011)

Hi, it makes me sad to read this post but there is hope yet. 

Heart problems in dogs fall into two categories: 
Acquired (95% and occur after middle age) and Congenital heart defects (affects younger dogs). 

ACF is usually symptom free until too late and a heart checkup should be done yearly. 
CHF is rare (5% of dogs) and usually can be detected with a stethoscope. It makes a whooshing sound. 

There is hope yet for Sherman. He is too young for ACF and CHF would have been detected by regular vet checkups.


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## minnere (Jul 8, 2010)

I do have good news somfar for Sherman! During his first vet visit, immediately following the episode, his liver levels were off in his blood work. The vet retested two days later and they were back to normal. The vet told Sherman's owner that she is 99 percent sure that he just got into something toxic. My friend is still going to get the EKG this week to be sure but he has been fine since! That's good news!


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## datacan (May 15, 2011)

Good, Vet should rule out bloat/torsion - mild bloat is hardly noticeable. 

Heart condition should be unlikely at 14 months and EKG should be normal.
However, good if Sherman has insurance.


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