Tuesday evening, My 10 year old papillon developed a sudden onset of symptoms including fast labored breathing 60-70 respiration’s/minute and a very fast heart rate - 200bpm. Wednesday, we took her to the vet who took an X-ray and found an enlarged heart, a murmur, and suspected leaky valve. No fluid was found however, and she never had a cough.
She was prescribed 2.5mg of Enalapril 2x a day and released to us less than 45 mins from when we arrived with the vet literally laughing and trying to assure us she’d be fine and while it would cut her life short, this would give her anywhere from 6 months to 6 years.
Unfortunately, she didn’t improve on Thursday, or Friday. I called each day to report and ask what else we can do. I was told just to let the medicine work, initially that it may take 2-3 weeks and then changed to may work in 5-7 days.
She passed away yesterday morning before we woke up. I am completely devastated and just want to know why more wasn’t done.
Every time I called, they acted like it wasn’t a big deal and she was going to be fine, which made me second guess the obvious distress she was in.
So my questions are, firstly, was there a more aggressive approach that could’ve been taken and just wasn’t, or was what I was told true, that all that could be done was to let the medicine work and that this was just inevitable? Secondly, exactly how long does Enalapril typically take to work? And lastly, what would you have done differently in this case, if anything?
This could all be nothing and I’m just angry due to the grieving, I just wish they would've paid more attention to what I was saying and if she was worse than anticipated, wish they would’ve been up front and told us so we could’ve enjoyed her last few days instead of thinking she was going to be fine and that we were overreacting.
I see so many dogs who live a long time on heart meds and i feel so cheated and don’t understand why we were sent away with our concerns dismissed. I feel like 3 days after onset of symptoms is just so soon for her to pass.
Very sincerely asking for advice.
She was prescribed 2.5mg of Enalapril 2x a day and released to us less than 45 mins from when we arrived with the vet literally laughing and trying to assure us she’d be fine and while it would cut her life short, this would give her anywhere from 6 months to 6 years.
Unfortunately, she didn’t improve on Thursday, or Friday. I called each day to report and ask what else we can do. I was told just to let the medicine work, initially that it may take 2-3 weeks and then changed to may work in 5-7 days.
She passed away yesterday morning before we woke up. I am completely devastated and just want to know why more wasn’t done.
Every time I called, they acted like it wasn’t a big deal and she was going to be fine, which made me second guess the obvious distress she was in.
So my questions are, firstly, was there a more aggressive approach that could’ve been taken and just wasn’t, or was what I was told true, that all that could be done was to let the medicine work and that this was just inevitable? Secondly, exactly how long does Enalapril typically take to work? And lastly, what would you have done differently in this case, if anything?
This could all be nothing and I’m just angry due to the grieving, I just wish they would've paid more attention to what I was saying and if she was worse than anticipated, wish they would’ve been up front and told us so we could’ve enjoyed her last few days instead of thinking she was going to be fine and that we were overreacting.
I see so many dogs who live a long time on heart meds and i feel so cheated and don’t understand why we were sent away with our concerns dismissed. I feel like 3 days after onset of symptoms is just so soon for her to pass.
Very sincerely asking for advice.
