Inherited Ventricular Arrhythmia - Page 2

Hi,

The cardiologist did not recommend meds at this time.

Currently, the IVA does not appear to have any negative affects on Gunther.

The cardiologist wants us to wait until he is 18 months, and then do another heart monitor. As previously mentioned, statstically this condition actually improves as the affected GSD gets older.

It's sad to think that IVA affects seemingly healthy, normal GSDs and exists without symptoms that a routine vet visit could discover.  Without having an EKG or heart monitor there is no way to tell  that a young GSD has IVA.

So from now until he gets that next heart monitor conducted at 18 months, every morning that I get home from work at 7:30 am and see him waiting patiently for his morning exercise,  is a GREAT day !!! 

 What a frightening condition. After losing two beloved family pets too soon in the past three months I know how anxious you feel.  I have had GSD's and other dogs, even a few cats  most of my life with little  health problems until they got in their teens and was blissfully unaware of all the condition that can  affect them even when you feed them the best, give all the vaccinations etc

I hope it improves with age and that Gunther is waiting patiently for you every morning for  many many years.

Sorry if what I'm about to write is too worrysome for you, vinegarjoe, but maybe you can get some answers from boxer people or websites, where is is not an uncommon problem.

I used to have boxers who had that...back when the boxer people were just starting to realize they should be certifying hearts. The dogs would just pass out cold if startled. I had one who probably had about 40 episodes before it finally killed him. By then it had become pre-myocardial infarction, and I had to punch him in the heart to get him started again during the last two or three episodes (probably just coincidence that the punches "worked"). Three out of my four boxers just...to coin a phrase...dropped dead at about four years of age. That's when I quit and went back to GSDs. Thank heaven, now most people are heart certifying their dogs before breeding. Constance, the disease has been studied in boxers and has been found to run in certain families. 

I'm glad to hear that they now have medications for this. And I sure hope it's unrelated to what your dog is experiencing.

More info: http://www.boxergallery.com/articles/cardiomyopathy.htm

Cool, I am sure everything will be fine, do not stress, people are running around with this issue and do not even know it until they have a sleep study done.
Always,
Cee