# Furosemide Users?



## EllesBelles (May 14, 2010)

I wondered if anyone here has experience with furosemide? My cavalier is on it, but the vets aren't being especially helpful. Or actually, helpful at all.

He's on 3 tablets a day, 1 in the morning and 2 at night. It's been working quiet well, and in the last week he's got rid of all of his bloating. He seems completely back to normal :thumbup:

However, today his cough is quite bad again, and he seems a bit restless. That could be because he doesn't play, though, he only likes to walk. And his heart isn't in good enough shape for that. He's been fine with it for a few months, but now he's back to pre-MVD form, he wants to run out the door everytime its open. 

And, he's 'wet' himself twice. In the night on Tuesday, in his bed, and last night when he was lying on the sofa. Me and OH were on either side of him, and he was asleep. We didn't notice until I saw his leg was wet when he got down, and he didn't wake up...

I've phoned the vets, but they aren't being very helpful. He's a typical very excited cavalier, and so taking him to the vets isn't really ideal. They don't want him in anyway, they just said that the gave him 7 days back in July, so we should take it as it comes. The PDSA will see him, but that means taking him on a 45 mile trip, so I'd rather not if possible. 

Oops, what an essay


----------



## holly1 (Aug 10, 2010)

I assume it does the same for dogs as humans.
It will make the dog wee more,stopping build up of fluid around the lungs/heart


----------



## billyboysmammy (Sep 12, 2009)

ok wetting himself when asleep can be a problem with frusemide - its a diuretic so flushes the kidneys by removing excess water from the body and so he will need to wee much more often.

If his cough is getting worse for more than 24 hours i would be popping him back to the vets, and discussing the bed wetting with them.

Its a fine balancing act.

My old dog (gone these past 15 years!) had CHF and was on frusemide for about 5 of those years. It took a while to get the dosage right. The balance between allieving symptoms and the balance between the wetting.


----------



## EllesBelles (May 14, 2010)

His cough seems to be getting better..I'll keep an eye on it, though. He's been hardly coughing at all these last few days, so it was quite noticeable this morning. He did get very excited at seeing a hedgehog in the garden this morning, though, so maybe he just overdid it?

Thank you for your responses  He's got three diuretics, I feel quite sorry for him really...he must need to wee all the time. They are working with his vetmedin really well though...he's on half a vetmedin twice a day. At this rate I hope he'll be still good for his birthday in April :thumbup:


----------



## Spellweaver (Jul 17, 2009)

We had a dog with congestive heart failure who was on furosemide (or frusemide as it was called way back then). Furosemide is a diuretic (ie it gets rid of the excess fluid and this makes the dog wee more).

First of all, I would alter the dosage so that he has two tablets in a morning and 1 tablet at night. It makes more sense to have the higher dosage during the daytime, when someone will be there to let him out. Try to give him the morning and night doses as near to 12 hours apart as possible, but having said that I would also give the night time tablet at least an hour before his last walk. The lower dose at night, plus leaving him an hour to wee a lot of fluid out of his system, should greatly help the incontinence overnight.

Our dog was on furosemide for about three years until he finally passed away at the grand old age of 17. Every now and again, however, it would seem as if the furosemide had stopped working, and his cough would get worse and his tummy would rapidly fill up with fluid. When this happened I would take him to the vet and the vet would give him a furosemide injection, which would work more or less straight away (it was a struggle to pay the bill quick enough to get him outside to do the biggest wee you ever saw!) and then the tablets would seem to work again. I think this happened about four times during the three years.

Hope all this helps - please feel free to pm me if you want to know anything else or just want to talk - sometimes it helps to chat things over with someone who has gone through something similar.


----------



## holly1 (Aug 10, 2010)

The dog I just fostered has stage 5 heart failure. The vet put him on Fortekor, but said there is no fluid build up around his heart/lungs.
How long would it take for build up to take place?When will I know this is happening? The vet wants to see him monthly.


----------



## billyboysmammy (Sep 12, 2009)

holly1 said:


> The dog I just fostered has stage 5 heart failure. The vet put him on Fortekor, but said there is no fluid build up around his heart/lungs.
> How long would it take for build up to take place?When will I know this is happening? The vet wants to see him monthly.


depends on the cause of the heart disease, he may never get fluid build up.

Do you know what his diagnosis is?


----------



## Spellweaver (Jul 17, 2009)

holly1 said:


> The dog I just fostered has stage 5 heart failure. The vet put him on Fortekor, but said there is no fluid build up around his heart/lungs.
> How long would it take for build up to take place?When will I know this is happening? The vet wants to see him monthly.


It's not forced to happen hun - the tablets he is taking may be enough to prevent it. However, the two main signs of a fluid build up are an unproductive cough (ie he will cough, but there is nothing to cough up) and a swollen abdomen.


----------



## holly1 (Aug 10, 2010)

he does cough a little.I started him on the pills last night,and I havent heard him cough today,except when he pulled on the lead on his walk.
I dont know if they would work that fast 
The vet said he probably have a year to live
Lets hope he proves them wrong.


----------



## EllesBelles (May 14, 2010)

Spellweaver said:


> We had a dog with congestive heart failure who was on furosemide (or frusemide as it was called way back then). Furosemide is a diuretic (ie it gets rid of the excess fluid and this makes the dog wee more).
> 
> First of all, I would alter the dosage so that he has two tablets in a morning and 1 tablet at night. It makes more sense to have the higher dosage during the daytime, when someone will be there to let him out. Try to give him the morning and night doses as near to 12 hours apart as possible, but having said that I would also give the night time tablet at least an hour before his last walk. The lower dose at night, plus leaving him an hour to wee a lot of fluid out of his system, should greatly help the incontinence overnight.
> 
> ...


Thank you so much  He's been on it for maybe four months now? We took him in because he had a cough, and they said his murmur had gone from a one to a six on the scale, and he had at best three months. We carried on as normal, but he started fainting on walks, so we were advised to stop walking him.

I will definately try two in the morning and one at night, that seems much more intelligent. Which is probably why it didn't occur to me :lol: He does run around the garden which is quite big, and I let him out alot.

I'll keep furesimide injections in mind for if (when?) he does bloat, and I'll definitely PM you. Thank you again


----------



## Spellweaver (Jul 17, 2009)

holly1 said:


> he does cough a little.I started him on the pills last night,and I havent heard him cough today,except when he pulled on the lead on his walk.
> I dont know if they would work that fast
> The vet said he probably have a year to live
> Lets hope he proves them wrong.


Let's hope he does hun. The vet gave our dog six months and he had three very good years after that - and heart medicine has moved on apace from the digoxin that was the only drug availabe when our dog was ill. Fingers crossed for your boy.


----------



## billyboysmammy (Sep 12, 2009)

yep, benn was given a few months, he had over 5yrs!


----------



## haeveymolly (Mar 7, 2009)

I reduced montys frusemide at night so didnt have any problems with him wetting himself, he was on the vetmedin as well an excellent combination with the frusemide, he was on another heart med as well but ive forgotton the name in all he was on 13 heart and diuretics a day.


----------

