Replied by Serenity (Schenectady, Ny) on 09/20/2012
Momof2pits-I saw your post when I was doing research online for herbs that would be good for a dog's system and felt so bad to hear about your boy that I just wanted to write you a quick note... In my research I have come across the herb Hawthorn being mentioned quite a few times as being very beneficial for dogs with heart conditions.. And Milk Thistle for the liver.. They can be gotten at any health food store or online.. I highly recommend the book Natural Remedies for dogs(Amazon) as it has SO much information on pet health conditions and Heart conditions and what herbs to give them to help treat them! Lots of advice from holistic vets! I read such good reviews on something called Hearty Heart as well if you google it im sure you will find it! I hope some of this can help with your boy!!Replied by Sheltiemom (Birmingham, Al) on 10/01/2012
hello, I am so sorry to hear your dog is so sick. sounds like she has some very serious things going on.
one of my shelties had a heart condition. We used furosemide to pull the fluid off. It is a pill and very cheap. Have the vets suggested that for your dog? I also put him on a cardio strength pill from vetriscience along with coq 10, omega 3, hawthorne. I also gave him L-taurine and L-carnatine each day. A low fat low salt (very important) dog food. He was on natural balance duck/potato fomula because he also had allergies but that food has a lower salt content than some. If you shop around you can find the cardio support online and save money. I usually either ordered it from amazon or ebay depending on where it was cheapest. These supplements were tremendous. Not only did his heart condition not worsen, it actually improved. His cardiologist was amazed as each time she did new sonograms of his heart, it was better! I have no experience w/liver issues but I would think the low fat, low salt diet would not be hurtful for that condition.
The denamarin supplement for liver mentioned by another poster is supposed to be very good-again, shop around on the internet for the best price. There are also chat groups on yahoo for people who have dogs w/various issues. You might look for one of those to join. It is free and since the people on there have dogs w/these issues they can offer help and support. I found them very helpful to me. Sure hope you pittie gets better. I know what it is to love your dog!
