Clara is responding to heart medications

[Godmother]

My Clara is over 2 1/2 years old, and she is still agile and has lovely thick soft fur. But her breathing has been a problem for a while. I tried her on several combos of abs, which helped for a while, but her respiratory rate is very fast. A trial of benazepril helped, so I had her X-rayed on Wednesday.

Her heart is hugely enlarged; the vet says it's about the biggest he's seen in a rat. So she is now on the whole set of heart meds: ACE-inhibitor, beta-blocker, Lasix & digoxin. At first it didn't seem to help, so I thought that maybe it was too late to do much, but over the last day she is starting to look better. She isn't puffy, she is eating more, and she is looking happier. :joy: My hope is that her heart will gradually shrink to a more normal size.

 

[Rachael]

Wow that is brilliant news. So happy for you and Clara.

 

[jorats]

That is really good news!
Was this something that developed with age, did you notice anything when she was younger?

 

[smilez_n_hugs]

Great news!!

 

[Godmother]

It developed gradually with age. She had been pretty healthy (aside from one ear infection that cleared up fast with meds) until she was over two. Then she seemed to get noisy breathing very often.

 

[SQ]

:thumbup:

 

[mamarat]

So happy for you and Clara. :joy:

 

[Godmother]

I'm happy that she is better than she was, but it breaks my heart to see her panting after even a mild effort. This has really made a huge impact on her QOL and, with Bill and Ronnie gone, we'll have to work hard to cheer her up.

 

[jorats]

Poor little one. We try so much for them.