Lucy has been like that for some time ... she's been in CHF for over a year.  Unless it's sudden, I don't expect the end soon, her health seems to be stable (I posted a while ago about our most recent appointment with the cardiologist if you want to read it).  Nobody knows what tomorrow brings, but we don't feel we have any reason to fear the worst happening imminently.  Our barometer is her quality of life, and it's good.  Once that starts deteriorating we'll have to think about what to do next, but so far, so good.

Have you spoken to your vet/cardiologist recently?  I've found that CHF/MVD is different for each and every dog, it's so difficult to predict.

Elaine

> Message Received: Oct 12 2007, 02:59 AM
> From: "Terri Davis"
> To: MVDincavaliers@...
> Cc:
> 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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