Heart failure is a very complex matter in canines. One day you see that your Shih Tzu is fine and then the very next day, something terrible just happened. This is because people usually don’t see the signs from before or understand them. Here, know about heart failures in a bit more depth.
What is a heart failure in Shih Tzu?
This complex matter of heart failure develops from the congenital and acquired heart diseases. It can either be a backward failure or a forward failure where the cardiac output gets low. Now, as the heart functions stop working properly, the vasculature increases as a result of activation and up-regulation of the neurohormonal system.
What are the causes for this heart failure in Shih Tzu?
- Obesity: This is a very common reason for heart failure in Shih Tzu.
- Old age: With old age, all the organs get weak, and the working or their functionality reduces.
- Tumor: Extra mass growing around the heart can be a huge cause for this problem. This creates an obstruction in blood flow to the heart.
- Infection: It can lead to inflation and bloating of the body that stops the blood flow to the heart.
- Coronary or artery disease: This happens due to hypothyroidism happening for a high level of cholesterol.
- Lack of exercise: Again, if they are eating but not having the proper level of work out, then again the condition of overweight as well as high cholesterol might cause some severe result leading to heart failure in Shih Tzu.
These are some of the major causes of heart failure or other related problem. However, it is not that these cannot be understood. You can often see some signs that will help you to realize if your Shih Tzu has heart problems or not.
Different signs to understand if the Shih Tzu is suffering from heart problems
- Heavy breathing: When your Shih Tzu is suffering from heart diseases, their breathing gets very high. This can be a bit difficult to understand when they are sitting. But you can recognize if they get easily tired after playing.
- Swollen belly: Another symptom is that they get bloated belly when suffering from heart disease. This happens due to less forward flow, and the fluid starts building up in their belly.
- Cough: This is a bad sign in dogs. Coughing is not normal in dogs, not in any condition. So, if you notice this, then attending a doctor is pretty urgent.
- Fainting: Yes, they faint too! But why people don’t understand this is because the entire episode lasts only for few hours. If you notice this, meet your vet as soon as possible.
- Vomiting: They vomit when they are not well and cannot digest anymore. This means, their metabolic rate has decreased to a quite low level, and it is a warning sign that they can suffer from heart disease.
- Fever: It is not good for dogs to get a fever. You will easily notice this and take immediate action to fix this problem.
The good part is all these can be avoided if you know the right things to do for your beloved Shih Tzu.
