Sudden Possible DCM in 2 year old Dobe

[PhilT]

So very sorry to hear about your loss of your beautiful girl Cherry, it's always so heart breaking to lose a dear friend to DCM but one so young is more rare .
R.I.P sweet Cherry .

 

[kaloric]

I'm so sorry for your loss, it's just so much worse when they're just a baby.

It sounds like you have a competent vet, which is amazing, I've had two Dobes die of undiagnosed congestive heart failure. The second one, I caught-on to the symptoms and diagnosed him while the vet (an associate in the practice who was not my usual vet) was chasing what he thought was a mysterious infection that produced no elevated body temperature, no positive cultures, and no response to any antibiotics, even with the more unusual tests and drugs. I'm not happy about the wasted time, money, and trips to the vet on a wild goose chase of a misdiagnosis.

Anyway, there is nothing you could have realistically done if such a young pup was suffering from CHF. I'm guessing the vet did some differential diagnoses to go with deciding it was probably CHF rather than poisoning. I would've leaned towards poisoning from the medical history/onset of symptoms you provided, but only because she was so young. I'm guessing they did liver/kidney/blood screening, and found no evidence of acute toxicity.

The symptoms fit CHF. There will usually be elevated breathing rate, sometimes labored, sometimes coughing due to fluid accumulation backed-up into the lungs. There will be poor perfusion of oxygen to the body. There will be lethargy due to the poor perfusion. Seems to be a good diagnosis from what you describe, just really tragic.

 

[Cherry]

I'm so sorry for your loss, it's just so much worse when they're just a baby.

It sounds like you have a competent vet, which is amazing, I've had two Dobes die of undiagnosed congestive heart failure. The second one, I caught-on to the symptoms and diagnosed him while the vet (an associate in the practice who was not my usual vet) was chasing what he thought was a mysterious infection that produced no elevated body temperature, no positive cultures, and no response to any antibiotics, even with the more unusual tests and drugs. I'm not happy about the wasted time, money, and trips to the vet on a wild goose chase of a misdiagnosis.

Anyway, there is nothing you could have realistically done if such a young pup was suffering from CHF. I'm guessing the vet did some differential diagnoses to go with deciding it was probably CHF rather than poisoning. I would've leaned towards poisoning from the medical history/onset of symptoms you provided, but only because she was so young. I'm guessing they did liver/kidney/blood screening, and found no evidence of acute toxicity.

The symptoms fit CHF. There will usually be elevated breathing rate, sometimes labored, sometimes coughing due to fluid accumulation backed-up into the lungs. There will be poor perfusion of oxygen to the body. There will be lethargy due to the poor perfusion. Seems to be a good diagnosis from what you describe, just really tragic.

I feared poison as well when I first took her in actually. I don’t believe they had enough time to do any type of official tests on her (or that’s what I was told anyway) so there is a possibility of it not being DCM. It’s hard not having concrete answers. I keep wondering if maybe she got some kind of infection that worsened what might have already been there.
Maybe if I’d taken her in a little sooner something could have been done. Maybe she would still be here. My two youngest are struggling with her loss. She was our first and only family pet.
The vet we have does seem competent though which is fortunate.

I’m so sorry at your bad experience with your vet and at the loss of your two dobes. May they both run free and happy

 

[kaloric]

I feared poison as well when I first took her in actually. I don’t believe they had enough time to do any type of official tests on her (or that’s what I was told anyway) so there is a possibility of it not being DCM. It’s hard not having concrete answers. I keep wondering if maybe she got some kind of infection that worsened what might have already been there.
Maybe if I’d taken her in a little sooner something could have been done. Maybe she would still be here. My two youngest are struggling with her loss. She was our first and only family pet.
The vet we have does seem competent though which is fortunate.

I’m so sorry at your bad experience with your vet and at the loss of your two dobes. May they both run free and happy

While infections can put a pretty large additional load on a heart that's already on the path to CHF, it's highly unlikely you wouldn't have noticed such a serious thing. You'd also have noticed similar symptoms for the infection, but younger dogs are pretty good at fighting things off before they get serious. I think that'd more be an issue with older dogs.

And no, taking her in early wouldn't have done anything, either. There would have been no reason to suspect an issue, and getting a baseline echosound of the heart really isn't something you'd have done that young, I think about doing that somewhere around 3-5 years of age. Even if you did, I don't think the medications would be particularly effective against such a severe, early onset case. They buy a few months or years in older dogs when diagnosed early enough, but your poor Cherry was behind the 8-ball when she was born. She simply did not have a chance even though she appeared healthy and happy, and that's what's most heartbreaking.

I hope you aren't so overwhelmed that you wouldn't consider bringing another Dobe into your lives at some point, your tragic experience is not the norm. It's just the looming specter of having their lives cut unexpectedly short that makes it difficult sometimes.

 

[Cherry]

I am open to another Doberman in the future but my husband says he doesn’t want to go through this again. I’m hoping in time he will see that unfortunately… sometimes things happen that we just can’t control. I also think it might be hard for all of us with another dobe right away. I think it would be hard for us to not think of Cherry and… to not hurt honestly. So our next pup will probably be a different breed but fingers crossed that in the future our hearts can love another dobe and not ache so much thinking of our first.
For now though, we are trying to heal. Our hearts just can’t add another pup to love yet.

 

[JanS]

For now though, we are trying to heal. Our hearts just can’t add another pup to love yet.

And there's no problem with that since we all have to take it at our own pace.

 

[PhilT]

After losing my boy to DCM I couldn't envision having another dog ever, then some 16-18 months later I took on a rescue dog because I found I had a big hole in my life, you have to do things at your own pace and only you can decide when the time is right .

 

[Cindy Jensen]

When we look back we can always find fault. Having had dobies, I know their issues and I would rather be safe than sorry even if I feel I am over reacting. What went through my mind was the new viral disease going through dogs that turn quickly to pneumonia? I don't know if DCM causes such a high temp and she did cough and have a discharge. I am somone who has had an autopsy done on one of my dogs because I NEED to know for the future what was going on . That's just me. But remember that many times don't don't show much in signs or we can be mistaken in what we see. It even happens with our children, who can talk! But just forgive yourself and say you will do better next time. Give another dobie the love they need. We can learn from our mistakes and become better owners. I'm sure she knew you loved her. My heart breaks for you and your girl.

 

[Kswoodssue]

This is heartbreaking. I am so very sorry for your loss.