Monthly Archives: November 2019

Approximately 10% of all dogs, and 75% of senior dogs, have some form of heart disease. Heart disease can affect just one side of the heart (left or right), or sometimes it can affect both sides. It is slow to develop and can result from a genetic defect or have been caused by old age, injury, infection, poor diet or a lack of exercise.

When a dog's heart is unable to pump an adequate amount of blood around the body, this is a condition known as congestive heart failure (CHF). Congestive heart failure itself is not a disease: it is a condition that is the result of heart disease. Congestive heart failure is a fairly common condition in dogs. CHF causes an increase in both pressure and fluid in and around the heart that eventually leaks out into the lungs and sometimes elsewhere in a dog’s body. This build-up of fluid restricts a dog’s lungs and prevents them from expanding normally, thereby reducing the exchange of oxygen into the bloodstream.