Mandy,
My Maggie developed ARVC and while there wasn't a cardiomyopathy specific group we joined https://groups.yahoo.com/neo/groups/CanineCongestiveHeartFailure/info . They were helpful. They had pointed me to a presentation by one of the ARVC specialists that he delivered at a vet conference. It was called "Knock Out ARVC. " I had to pay to download it and it doesn't seem to be available any longer. I do have the MP3 still though. It really helped me understand the disease. He said that even though sotalol reduces the VCP's, it doesn't necessarily prevent that one deadly VCP. He did say that the one thing that definitely helps is high levels of fish oil.
Maggie was diagnosed in Dec 2011 and started on sotalol then. That pretty much eliminated her VCP's, but suddenly in late Aug her heart became very enlarged and she was on the verge of CHF. Her cardiologist didn't expect she had more than weeks. However, she had us start on vetmedin (pemobendin), which is the expensive med. It helps the heart beat stronger. She also had us start on l-carnitine. I increased her fish oil to 9 nordic naturals 1,000 mg per day. She was 70 lbs. We had 5 cardio visits between then and Dec 2012 and each one showed her heart drastically improving. We lost her Feb 20,2014 to cancer, but her heart was still doing great. She had cardio check ups all the way up until Dec 2013 and her cardiologist was stunned by her echo's and chest x-rays.
Boxer hugs,
Heather
Posted by: "Heather Jones" <heather.jones.mccaffrey@gmail.com>
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