Congestive heart Failure

[augrads]

I have the same issue except my chi wont eat science diet rx. I contacted Innova to verify (ps they will mail you coupons once a year I got 8 dollars 5 off one food 3 off next) the canned innova low fat around .14 the heathbar .11 and the dry food .15 or .17 they have the info on their site so double check my numbers just click the nutrition analysis. Innova states their food is not designed to be low sodium. It is however, low sodium because they preserve with vitamin b not salt. Only the low fat and healthbars varieties as of jan 2010. I suppliment with happy heart treats that have no added preservatives and get the taurine and flax into the diet. I would hope in the future their are more options. This is only over the counter food ive found as most food are required a min of .30 sodium this food is also equivalent sodium wise to hills k/d.

[mythbuster]

Hi,
This my first post and was wondering if anyone out there could suggest a non prescription alternatve that will still be helpful to my dogs heart condition.

My vet's stock of the food is very intermittent so I have to mix it somtimes with other food as a temporary alternative.

If there is something out there non prescription and cheaper it would help me out a lot.

Appreciate any advice.

Thanks

DO NOT LISTEN TO THE ADVICE YOU ARE GETTING ON HERE!!!!!!!!!!! This advice will kill your dog faster.
If your dog is in congestive heart failure, then absolutely 100% you need to keep him on a low sodium diet. Yes, protein is important for heart failure, but DO NOT PUT HIM ON A HIGH PROTEIN GRAIN FREE DIET. There are a couple of different companies that have diets appropriate for heart disease if you don't want to feed Hill's. Or have a diet formulated by a nutritionist. You need to find a diet with less than 0.2% sodium to help decrease the load on the heart. Omega 3 fatty acids (specifically EPA/DHA from fish oil), are very beneficial for heart disease.

[xellil]

My dog has heart disease. For once, I agree with mythbuster.

My dog of course is fed raw, but it's zero sodium - not even a tiny bit. And lots of oils. I feed salmon and whiting alot. It's very hard to find canned fish that has no salt.

[frogdog]

I, also, agree with Mythbuster.

You may want to start your own thread regarding the issue considering this one is a year old.

[Scarlett_O']

This thread is a year old!

Augrads, you might want to consider making your own thread, so that we can help you with your dog's issues!

And as far as the sodium issue goes...well that was already addressed in the previous posts.

[mythbuster]

My dog of course is fed raw, but it's zero sodium - not even a tiny bit. And lots of oils. I feed salmon and whiting alot. It's very hard to find canned fish that has no salt.

Sodium is naturally occurring in tissues, so even a raw diet with no sodium added will contain some sodium (which is good, because sodium is necessary for fluid homeostasis in the body, if you got zero sodium, you would die), the key is to choose ingredients that contain low levels of sodium (in the case of a homemade diet), or choose a diet that is formulated with very low levels of sodium (most commercial diets are not low enough in sodium for a heart failure dog, there are special diets specifically made for this; for example: Cardiac Dry / Veterinary Exclusive Dog Diets / Veterinary Exclusive Diets / Home - RoyalCanin). You want enough sodium to meet the needs of the body without giving any more than is necessary.

The reason low sodium is so crucially important in heart disease is that water follows salt. If you consume a lot of salt, you end up with a lot of salt in your bloodstream, which pulls more fluid into the veins, increasing the pressure in the veins and the workload on the heart. Think of rivers in the spring after all the snow thaws.... extra water is in the river, and it ends up overflowing the river banks and covering the roads if it builds up too much. Only in the case of heart failure, instead of water covering the road, you have water pooling in areas like the belly and chest. Make sense?

[xellil]

yes, most things have a tiny bit of salt. Perhaps I should say zero added salt.

For instance, I will give my Dobie chicken that has under 100 gms of salt in it - it's been enhanced some I think, but not the 360 gm I see in some meat.

for my dachshund, she gets almost 100% what comes from a raw dog food supplier, where i am pretty sure no salt has been processed into the food.

I know the chicken I get from the dog food people looks, smells, and has a texture totally different from what comes out of the grocery store.

And I know I probably give her some salt by accident. I am giving them that hogshead that had absolutely no nutritional info on it. it did say "Fresh frozen." I am just keeping my fingers crossed it's not chock full of salt.

[Caty M]

I never really thought about enhanced meat and feeding to my rescue with a murmur. Huh. I never actually looked to see if the chicken I bought is enhanced- I have no idea.

[xellil]

I never really thought about enhanced meat and feeding to my rescue with a murmur. Huh. I never actually looked to see if the chicken I bought is enhanced- I have no idea.

Yep, me too. I thought chicken was chicken. I learned about the salt on here. Should have known better - they often fill it full of salt water to increase the weight and I guess make it taste better.

Kroger is a store where (at least the ones I've been to) 100 percent of their chicken is way too high in salt to feed my dogs.

[Caty M]

Is a heart murmur really indicative of a future heart problem though and should I only feed low sodium chicken? I know they can be genetic and never really affect the dog, but I don't know what kind of murmur it is (just going by her health records).