I am so sorry to hear your Chin is doing worse, but glad she has at least been feeling well.  I do not have any medical advice as my dog was just recently diagnosed and he is only 4 years old. I hope your dog remains happy and comfortable until the end. It certainly sounds like you have been doing all you can.

-----Original Message-----
From: MVDincavaliers@... [mailto:MVDincavaliers@...]On Behalf Of Terri Davis
Sent: Thursday, October 11, 2007 9:59 PM
To: MVDincavaliers@...
Subject: [MVDincavaliers] want to know if Roxie's getting closer to the end

Hi everybody,

I hope this e-mail finds you all well and your animals
doing fine as well.....

As some of you will remember, I have a nine year-old,
soon-to-be 10 year old Japanese Chin who was diagnosed
last August (2006) with heart failure. This website
provided me with lots of information that I credit
with saving her life because she went down very
quickly.

The good news is she has had a wonderful 13-14 months
with great quality of life, but I think we've reached
another stage. For one thing, she's coughing more (so
we've added Lasix but that's still not stopping it
completely - not at night); the other thing is I can
hear her heart beating when she's sitting near me.
She doesn't have to be in my arms and I don't have to
be listening for it. I can just hear it it when she's
near me.

Other than increased coughing - like a spell or two at
night - and the heartbeat being so loud, she's got a
good appetite and is still walking around seemingly
happy...

What do you guys think? The reason I want to know is
because she is my heart dog. I can not even tell you
what it will do to me when she does pass and even
though you probably can never prepare yourself, I want
to try as best I can.

I would appreciate any insight you can give me....

Thank you, Terri

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