Stage 4 heart murmur and Ladix

[Eva510]

My 14 yr old Dachsie Hannah has Stage 4 heart murmur...she has been on Fortekor 2.5 mgs PO BID...she is tolerating this well...lately she has been coughing a bit more...took her to the vet today as concerned about CHF....Hannah weighs 16 pounds...Dr prescribed Lasix 20mgs PO BID....no blood tests or renal functions tests were done...I did some research as maximum dosage for her should be only 32 mgs per 24 hrs....Dr prescribed up to 40 mgs per 24 hr period... is this acceptable??? I also read that Lasix should NOT be prescribed for heart murmur with coughing...I have previously lost a Dachsie to Vet error in prescription...I am rather cautious about meds for my girlies...thank you so much in advance

[hazelrunpack]

Hi, Eva. So sorry you're going through this with Hannah.

We had an English setter with chronic heart failure with a heart murmur and cough. One of the drugs prescribed for her was lasix. As I recall, they started her out a little lower than they expected she'd need, then up'd it a bit. Unfortunately, I don't remember the dose. The last prescription we had for her listed the strength at 50 mg per tablet--but I can't recall if we broke it in half or if she got 50 mg/day. She weighed about 45 lbs. So 40 mg/day in a 16 lb dog does seem a bit high. It could be, though, that your dog has more fluid build-up than Ridge had and needs a higher dose.

If you have concerns about the dosage, it's probably worth a call to the vet clinic to see what the vet's rationale was prescribing it at that level. I'm surprised that they didn't do at least a baseline renal test so they'd have something to compare to. We took Ridge in every 3 months for a renal function screen. She was also on Vetmedin and Linisopril, though, and one of those might have been the reason for the frequent screenings.

Btw, she was on the meds for 3 years and died of causes unrelated to her heart problem, so the meds can be quite effective. I hope Hannah improves and is with you for many more years!

[Eva510]

Thank you for your response...I am sorry you lost your fur baby...what I am going to do is start her out with a 20mgs tablet once a day for about a week and then I will titrate her up to the full 40mgs per day...Hannah has been with me the longest and I am not ready to lose her....as a former nurse I understand meds and check up on everything that my girlies take or I take...thank you so much again...with kind regards...

[hazelrunpack]

I went back to my records last night because I was curious and found out that we started Ridge out at 50 mg/day, then cut the dose to half that after about a month, once her water regulation was better. With luck, the 20mg/day will work well enough that you won't have to adjust the dose upward

Oh, and Ridge didn't get lisinopril--she got enalapril My memory never was what it used to be

Please keep us updated on Hannah's progress! And best wishes for you both!

[Eva510]

That’s one they said not to do and that is go down and off if it...mind you that humans do that as I was on it and it was reduced by half and removed..so far 20 mgs is ok... I will make sure she is tolerating it well and then move it up...my memory is probably worse than yours is lol... Blessings as always