Doggie Question

petals

One of my dogs died in April and the other one has never been on his own before cos he was the other ones pup. He is twelve now and he is still totally hyperactive. The vet discovered he has a heart murmur as well. And since the other dog died he sits at the door keening or it any of us go out and leave him alone he sits at the gate keening.

Would his hyperactiveness do him any harm considering his heart murmur and is there anything we could do to calm him a bit does anyone know?

Doper Than U

The only thing I can think of is to get another dog.. not a puppy, but perhaps an older dog from the pound... he's still obviously stressed now that he's suddenly alone..

petals

Doper Than U wrote:

The only thing I can think of is to get another dog.. not a puppy, but perhaps an older dog from the pound... he's still obviously stressed now that he's suddenly alone..

I thought that but my mum wasn't to keen on the idea of getting another dog.

Falkorre

Its kinda obvious when u think about it really......
Likely your dog is missing his mate and is very very worried that you are leaving him too every time you leave the house.
Most dogs dont seem to understand death, they just know "here" and "not here".....

If he has a heart condition, this has to stop asap.
You need to give him as much love as possible, every minute of every day that you can spare, and remember, every single minute u can give, is reassuring heaven to him.

Did they sleep together? If so, make sure he is as warm as possible now the other one is not their for body heat.

If it continues past a week, bring him to the vet and see what he recommends, depending on the severity of the heart condition, a course of sedatives may be necessary to stop him stressing himself into an early grave.

But lots of love, and attention, often works better, and no matter how hyper he is, please do try and remember that a 12 year old dog, is a real old man, and will be just as much work lol

Let us know how u do?

B

petals

He has been like this since the other dog died in April.

With his Heart Murmur. He's a very hyper dog would this have any affect on his heart murmur

Caked Karen

yes it does affect the dog.well it affected mine.she was really hyper and she had a heart mumer aswell.she was fine for a few months but the when she started to get sicker she went down hill very fast and died only a few days after gettin weak.so sad. just make sure you tell your dog you love him and spend as uch time as you can. i think they know people better than we think and like us they only want love!

Falkorre

petals wrote:

With his Heart Murmur. He's a very hyper dog would this have any affect on his heart murmur?

Well, im no canine-cardio expert *but* there are two schools of thought based on that question.
The first is that if he has got to this age as hyper as he is, with the condition, then maybe its best to just keep a close eye an hope for the best.

The second, an more popular idea, is that a dog thats hyperactivity *may* affect his health may benefit from a course of sedatives,...........

Personally I tend to favour a logical mixture of the two ideas.
*I* would keep a close eye on him for a particular period of time, (decide how long with ur vet),...and if he does not calm down to a safe level, then maybe look into whether or not ur vet will do a 12 hour heart monitor to see if his hyperactivity actually *is* making a big difference / risk.
Then, armed with all the info and knowing all the options, you can decide if sedatives are necessary.

Personally, in my mind, sedatives should always be a last resort, they dont do the dog any good mentally and will likely change his "personality" quite dramatically.

petals

Cool thanks for all the help and advice guys