Pimobendan/vetmedin

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Almostperfect10

Well-known member
Joined
May 5, 2011
Messages
46
Location
Dayton, OH
Any personal experiences with using this med for chins?

My 3.5 year old chin, Shrimpie, has had a murmur/CHF for most of her life. She is currently on lasix and enalapril. Over the past year or so, she had very gradually lost weight, dropping from approximately 575g to 475g. She is active and acts and eats completely normal. Today we had a vet appointment to rule out teeth issues. She had some very minor points, but due to her heart he prefers not to put her under anesthesia to float her teeth since she is not drooling, swiping at her mouth, or showing any signs of discomfort/trouble eating.

He x-rayed her to check the size of her heart. The size of her heart has not changed, but her lungs were not clear. He feels that her heart is the source of her weight loss, i.e. it is not effectively circulating nutrients to her body. He is increasing her lasix and will recheck with x-rays in one week.

If her lungs do not look better, he said we would discuss adding pimobendan. I had a dog use it years ago, but have never heard of it used in a chin. The one thread I see about it on this forum makes me hesitant. Has anyone actually had a chin on this drug?
 
Just curious if a fecal float was done, giardia can be silent, cause weight loss without any other symptoms. The use of the inodilators on Gino who had a class V was to be a last resort if the ace inhibitors did not work but it can lead to death rapidly if the heart is too weak for the extra pumping action. To be honest, this chin is young and has no other issues so if it was my kid I would try it, the alternative is not good so I would think its worth a try.
 
Thanks for the input, Dawn!

Fecal was done and showed yeast only. She was put on nystatin. Yesterday's fecal was clear, so we'll finish off the last few days of the nystatin.

Thankfully, yesterday's xray was remarkably better so we didn't even have to discuss pimobendan. She will continue on the increased dose of lasix and be rechecked in three months.
 
Has she had an echocardiogram done? I'm assuming she probably has, hence the medication.
Also I've done dental radiographs on my chin awake and they were helpful. I don't know if you took images of her skull with her chest the other day but dental rads have a small portable sensor and the actual machine is usually on a swinging arm so it's way easier to do (i.e they don't have to be laying down on their side and restrained as much).
I usually hold the sensor with one hand against the outside of her mouth (its a small flat rectangle, about the size of a couple box tops side by side) and hold Chloe in the other hand. The manufacturer says to be like a couple feet away when taking the radiographs but the studies I've read say the scatter radiation is literally negligible. So your doctor may or may not have opinions about that and decline doing it.
I'm very glad her recheck rads were better!! That's exciting!
 
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