Very Young Dogs That Go To Rainbow Bridge

[furballs]

I have a Rottwieiler and she will die within the next 12 months, she is currently 13 months old. I can't imagine my life without her and I dread the day that her little sweet heart stops beating. Right now she is laying on the couch with me and I can feel and hear her heart struggling to operate.

[lanabanana]

What is wrong with her?

[furballs]

What is wrong with her?

she has a heart problem

[lanabanana]

I am sorry to hear that. It is not nice to lose a much loved dog - especially one so young.

[furballs]

I am sorry to hear that. It is not nice to lose a much loved dog - especially one so young.

I haven't lost her yet, but every day with her is a bonus. Thank you

[Adnil444]

I'm so sorry to hear that. I hope every day with her is wonderful. This is so young. I have also lost a young dog - he was 9 months old (purebred great dane). He died in the back of the car - no warning nothing, just dropped dead. He also had congenital heart problem that was just a ticking time bomb we later found out. We no longer purchased any dogs from that registered breeder again (the 2 we got from her had major issues, the 2 that were purchased from another registered breeder were just perfect, in breed type and temperament).

[Wazzat Xolo]

I have a Rottwieiler and she will die within the next 12 months, she is currently 13 months old. I can't imagine my life without her and I dread the day that her little sweet heart stops beating. Right now she is laying on the couch with me and I can feel and hear her heart struggling to operate.

what a shame, hugs to you, but if you got the dog from a REGISTERED breeder and its a health defect then you should be able to discuss this with them to help them with their breeding.

I do hope you let the breeder know for the future.

[ozjen]

I have a Rottwieiler and she will die within the next 12 months, she is currently 13 months old. I can't imagine my life without her and I dread the day that her little sweet heart stops beating. Right now she is laying on the couch with me and I can feel and hear her heart struggling to operate.

:D ;)

Don't loose hope furballs, my Papillon Gizmo has a hole in his heart and the vet told me that without daily medication he would be dead within a year as his heart works overtime to compensate. Well because he hated being medicated and was becoming afraid of me because of it I took him of the medication and decided I would just enjoy the time I had left with him, secure in the knowledge that at least he wouldn't be afraid to come near me. I also did some reseach and changed over to raw feeding, don't know if that helped but he has certainly been a lot heathier and is still going strong almost 6 years on. At 14 this month he has spells were he races around like a pup, stll loves to chase a ball, runs around with the big dogs at DOL meets and still bounces when excited. He no longer seems to have the bad days, but as with all old dogs he does like to sleep longer, hearing and sight is starting to go and he does have some arthritis issues that are usually kept under control(mainly from damage from a dog attack over 3 years ago).Prior to being diagnoised he had bad days, but I was getting totally different reports from different vets and it wasn't till he was going in for an operation for something else and I warned the vet that I had been told he was Bracticardic*sp*(heart runs slow) that the vet put him on an ECG machine first and the result was the opposite, that his heart actually was running extremly fast because he had a hole in it. This is when we were given the medication.

I hope your dog proves the vets wrong too and leads a long and wonderful life, but if its not to be then at least you know that you gave her true quality of life as a much loved member of your family, which is so much more than many dogs out there get. We should all appriciate the time we have with loved ones both human and fur as none of us knows how long they will be in our lives.

[Allerzeit]

what a shame, hugs to you, but if you got the dog from a REGISTERED breeder and its a health defect then you should be able to discuss this with them to help them with their breeding.

I do hope you let the breeder know for the future. :D

I have previously spoken with furball, and she has informed the breeder about her girls condition. The breeder has denied that there could be a genetic component, and in fact is planning to repeat the mating (if she hasn't already done so).

[raineth]

:D Furballs

My boy died at 14 months

I know how that feels to be there and seeing their bodies not working properly

[Erny]

The breeder has denied that there could be a genetic component ...

I could quote 3 cases of this type of attitude (including this one) all occurring recently (different health issues).

Danged annoying.

Frightfully wrong.

[Allerzeit]

And, bloody disgusting :rolleyes:

[dancinbcs]

Many congenital defects, including heart problems, do not have a genetic component. Some are just bad luck others caused by toxins, vitamin deficiencies, etc. Dogs are living creatures and there is no such thing as a "perfect" one but no puppy should ever be sold with a heart murmur.

Breeders can do everything right and still have puppies born with congenital defects. It depends on what the exact diagnosis is and if the defect is proven to be genetic in the breed. If it is a known genetic problem in the breed then a breeder who repeats the mating has rocks in their head.

Breeders need to keep track of all defects and if something occurs more than once, that is the time to start investigating the cause.

Furballs, what is the exact heart defect your dog is suffering from? Was there any sort of heart murmur at 8 weeks?

[lanabanana]

Please correct me if I am wrong, but I thought it was quite common for pups to have heart murmers when young which they often grew out of?

We got a pup at 9 weeks who had a heart murmur and byt he time he was 5 months old it was gone.

[Allerzeit]

Many congenital defects, including heart problems, do not have a genetic component. Some are just bad luck others caused by toxins, vitamin deficiencies, etc. Dogs are living creatures and there is no such thing as a "perfect" one but no puppy should ever be sold with a heart murmur.

Breeders can do everything right and still have puppies born with congenital defects. It depends on what the exact diagnosis is and if the defect is proven to be genetic in the breed. If it is a known genetic problem in the breed then a breeder who repeats the mating has rocks in their head.

In this case the condition - although not common in Australia, and as a result not routinely tested for over here (yet) - is a known genetic condition of the breed overseas and is routinely tested for in breeding stock in other countries. If I had a puppy buyer come to me and tell me that I produced a pup with this condition, there is no way known I would dismiss the condition offhand and go ahead and repeat the mating.

Edited June 6, 2010 by Allerzeit

[Teebs]

I had to hold a 6 month old Bull Terrier Spinner when he was PTS, he was not my dog, but I did a lot of work with me, i still think a lot about him and cry from time to time

[DerRottweiler]

How can you tell if your dog has a heart defect?

What are the signs?

[Kissindra]

My mother was looking for an adult cocker and got a FTGH young girl from an add in the trading post, purebred but backyard bred - she was so beautiful, so sweet and we couldn't figure out why anyone would give her up - not long after she came home she had a seizure. I called mum up in tears, had no idea what was happening and was so glad when it stoped. We go her straight to the vet and found out she had from memory kidney problems and epilepsy. She went on a special diet and medication but sadly Taffy did not live very long in spite of our best efforts. It was heart breaking, utterly heartbreaking. She was the sweetest most funny, cheeky girl with so much spirit and we were so blessed to have her in our lives, even for such a short time.

[idigadog]

We lost one of our babies just 10 weeks ago to a tiger snake. Drifter was only 15 months old. My heart is still breaking and I'm still struggling to come to terms with losing him so young.

Actually, I don't know if I'll ever come to terms with it :rolleyes:

[dancinbcs]

Please correct me if I am wrong, but I thought it was quite common for pups to have heart murmers when young which they often grew out of?

We got a pup at 9 weeks who had a heart murmur and byt he time he was 5 months old it was gone.

Yes, it is reasonably common in all dogs and many do correct with age, but without very expensive specialist testing (sometimes more than the value of the puppy) and diagnosis there is no way to tell what is causing the murmur or if there is a chance it will improve. For this reason I always advise breeders to keep puppies with murmurs until they grow out of the problem before rehoming them.

Some breeders can afford the diagnosis and for some conditions, the surgery to fix them, before placing a puppy. For others the cost is prohibitive and the best option is to run the puppy on and see what happens. If they are not prepared to do that then the puppy should be euthanised, not passed on to an unsuspecting buyer.

Heart murmurs are pretty rare in my breed but if they have not disappeared by 12 weeks they usually indicate a serious problem. The sound of the murmur also doesn't seem to be any indication to how bad the problem is. Dogs with very mild murmurs can in fact have very bad defects. I know of one breeder with a dog that had a very mild murmur as a puppy. When the murmur hadn't gone by 12 months, they investigated and discovered a completely malformed heart. It is not any sort of genetic problem the specialist has ever seen but the heart has formed completely wrong and surgery to correct it is not possible. The prognosis is not good and it is just a case of sheer bad luck but so lucky for the breeder that they never sold this puppy.