Reader Question
I have a 5 year old lab that has always been healthy. He is not overweight does not have allergies and is fed an excellent diet. Recently I have noticed he was acting a little lethargic, had bright yellow soft stool and did not want to go at his food like Labs do. Lab owners always panic when that happens! His stool problem cleared up and he is eating his dinner. I feed Taste Of the Wild (salmon.) I took him to the vet and he said he has a slight enlarged heart and he has a slight case of anemia. He also felt something else was the cause of what he has going on. He prescribed treating for a tick born disease with Doxycycline and Pred. because the heart specialist that looked at the X-Ray said the heart was not really that significant to be the issue. He was negative on heartworms as I keep him on medicine year round. I really do not think it's a tick problem for many reasons. He does not go out to high risk areas. He is on flea/tick med. He hasn't declined to the emergency side of things. When I took him to the vet it was because I picked up on the slightest of behavior that was not typical. I do not have any of his bloodwork values as the vet did not give them to us yet. He also said his lymphnodes were not swollen and the X-Ray showed no bleeds. Do you have a opinion on what else it may be. I have been in the professional animal business for more years than I would like to admit to. Any help would be welcomed.
Answer from Our Team
Anemia can cause a soft "flow" murmur, and more marked or long-standing anemia can make the heart look larger, so the anemia may be the main thing to explain. Tick-borne infections such as ehrlichiosis and anaplasmosis are a reasonable thing to treat for, even with tick prevention, but other causes include blood loss from the gut, immune-mediated anemia and, less often, cancer.
Ask your vet for the full bloodwork, including a reticulocyte count (to see whether the bone marrow is responding), a tick-borne disease panel and a fecal test. If the heart still looks enlarged once the anemia is treated, an echocardiogram will show whether there is true heart disease. Mention his grain-free diet too, so diet-associated heart muscle disease can be checked. Go back promptly if his gums become pale or yellow, he collapses or his urine turns dark.
See heart disease in dogs for more information.
This is general information, not a diagnosis. Please follow your own vet's advice.
