Do dogs & cats have heart attacks?

R

rdcl

Member
Joined
May 14, 2010
Messages
511
Reaction score
741
Location
Westlake Ohio
I'm serious. When was the last time anyone witnessed their pet .......an older pet perhaps.......playing, running or simply walking across the living room in seemingly great health and then suddenly falling over dead......instantly of a heart attack?

In my entire life I've never heard a single instance where someone stated something to the effect:

" Yeah, my setter was out in the yard wagging it's tail happy as can be and then suddenly BOOM! Fell over dead!"

While everyone knows that animals can suffer health problems very similar to humans....I can only assume that dogs & cats don't suffer heart aliments similar to humans.

Russ
 
Register to hide this ad
I think they do. Animals often feel that something isnt right and walk to the side and lay down befor the get sick. But even heartstops happens and they die on the spot when playing.
 
I'm thinking; well, if they have hearts, then they have heart attacks. After all, they eat stuff with fat in it.
 
my Jill, a yellow lab had a heart attack one night in the yard. she didn't come back from doing her business. when I found her she was just laying there. I brought her in and laid with her on the floor all night. the vet did an EKG and said she had had three heart attacks and there was nothing they could do. I wasn't worth wadding up and throwing away for days. lee
 
Yes they can. Had a puppy about 9 months old come running in the house one afternoon several years back and collapsed and died. The vet had said he had a murmur but should out grow it. Just lost my huge (big not fat, panther looking) kitty to what was apparently afib. He was fine and then we noticed him not being able to walk with his hind legs. My DIL is a vet tech and thought it may have been a clot. My Wife and DIL took him to the office to confirm the clot and he had another one get loose and he died in my DIL's arms. So yes they can die suddenly from heart problems.
Larry
 
My dad was looking out the window one day and saw a sparrow simply fold up its wings in midair and auger in.

I also believe that pets can have strokes. One of my parakeets had some kind of episode and I thought she was a goner. She lasted another few months as I recall.
 
Hmm. I guess they can then. Thanks for your responses. It's just that I never ever heard an instance of anyone I know having their pet suddenly fall over dead......and I know and have known lots of people with dogs & cats.

I'd always assumed animals.....dogs in particular....had much healthier (stronger) hearts than humans. (consider how fast a dog can run, for example).

Again, I thank you for your responses. Just something I wondered about.


Russ
 
Last edited:
I would swear I saw my cat have a stroke right in front of me.

Went to the vet, but the cat seemed to recover and lived a few more years.

Better a heart attack than the slow death from kidney failure or cancer.

Bruce
 
My ex-wife's cockatiel Peaches was about 25 years old and healthy. One evening, she just fell off of the top perch in her cage, and was dead right there. I figured it was her heart.

I still miss that bird...
 
Our little terrier was about 16 years old. Late one night/early morning, he was obviously not feeling well and while we were trying to make him comfortable, he let out a "yowl", obviously of great pain. After that, he could barely move. I took him to the vet in the morning and they said he was minutes away from dying, his heart was VERY weak and he had probably suffered a heart attack. Even though he probably would only last a matter of minutes, the vet went ahead and put him down. One of the hardest things I have had to do......
 
Pets can suffer many of the ailments that afflict humans. I had a wonderful Golden Retriever who had a stroke, and lost her sight in one eye and partial control of one side of her body. I had a cat who died of oral cancer. Another Golden Retriever of mine died of cancer, lymphoid sarcoma. Since they can't talk to us, they often just suffer in silence while we wonder what is wrong with them. And with my latest pet, a now almost 12 year old Standard Poodle, I think he has Alzheimer's or the dog equivalent. He was the smartest dog I have ever met, who seemed to be able to actually plan ahead for what he wanted to do (such as not grabbing the pizza off the coffee table, until he heard the slider door open from the kitchen to the deck, then stood up, and grabbed the pizza and ran out the open door). Now he seems to forget how to come through an open doorway, and ignores a rabbit sitting in the yard just 10 feet from him. Unfortunately, our beloved animals suffer just as we do.
 
I had a Sheltie die in my arms while riding in a car. Young and healthy and happy and gone in a couple of minutes.
 
Dogs and cats are "designed" for a meat diet (mostly). They handle fats and cholesterol differently. But they can get strokes, I know. Don't know of any biological reason plaque couldn't build up in the heart, also.
 
We've had sheep die from heart attacks, verified on pm by vet. Since then I've done a few pm's on dead sheep and have a couple I believe were heart attack deaths as well.
 
I had a 5 year old 14 pound neutered male cat die of heart failure (not a heart attack). His heart became enlarged and crowded out his lungs. The vet put him on lasix and he snapped back for about three months and the symptoms (not getting enough breath) started and he went into convulsions in the hall and died. I spent a lot of money to extend his life about three months, I will never do that again.

My neighbor told me of having a dog that had an apparent stroke. The dog wouldn't (couldn't) eat. He said he sat on the floor and put dog food into the dog's mouth and stroked the throat to teach it to eat. It worked and the dog recovered and lived a while longer.

One of the biggest killers of our pets is cancer.

However it happens it is very traumatic to lose a friend who loves you unconditionally.
 
I have a Yorkie on heart medication, man I must really love that old dog to keep paying for those pills, they ain't cheap.
 
Comrad said:
I have a Yorkie on heart medication, man I must really love that old dog to keep paying for those pills, they ain't cheap.
Click to expand...

I am sure you do love the dog.

One of the hardest decisions we make as pet owners is to decide when a pet has lived out his time. As I said in an earlier post I made that decision once with my heart and I have regretted it ever since. It doesn't really have anything to do with the expense, if a pet is suffering, they need you to do for them what they cannot do for themselves.

Thank heavens we don't have to make these decisions for human loved ones.
 
Death should be dignified if at all possible, I think. When those we love -- pet or human -- do not have the ability to choose for themselves how their end will come, I think we as their caretakers owe it to them to make their last hours as comfortable as possible, if the end is inevitable.

It sure helps, for humans, if there is a "do not resuscitate" order in place that the patient has signed while still mentally able to do so. It relieves such a lot of stress on the family, and fortunately our medical professionals know how to take care of a person in these situations so that death can be embraced instead of fought.

We as pet owners should consider the same for our animals, agreeing among caregivers what will be in the best interest of our pet when the time comes, so that we are not faced with that decision while we are grieving the creature's impending passing. There are ways to keep animals living, but that doesn't mean that they're having a life.
 
NOW I get it!:D

Before hell, though, you'll get a visit from a fellow that wants to perform a bit of surgery on your kneecaps....;)
 
When I was about seven, we had a dog named "stubs" who was always getting into trouble. I real ball of energy.
One day my father was working on the lawn mower and had some parts soaking in gas in a little dish. Stubs was running around and being thirsty, took a quick gurp out of the dish with the gas in it.
Stubs started running around in circles in the yard and after a few laps just fell over.........................................died?
No, just ran out of gas.
 
I thank God every day my Cat is healthy. Shasta is now around 10 human years old and the only real problem is she gets Urinary Tract Infections here and there but--she is now permanently eating a specialized dry cat food--and seems full of pep and vinegar ;-)) However, there are Cats and Dogs I had decades ago-that I still greatly miss.
 
My late wife, years ago, had a wonderful toy poodle, who had lived with us for many years and was really part of our family. He would never wet in the house, no matter how bad it hurt. Suddenly he began to wet on the floor, always in the kitchen on the tile, never on the hardwood floors. He also increased his appetite and his intake of water. Being a physician, I immediately recognized the three major symptoms of diabetes, polyuria, polydipsia, and polyphagia. I went to my lab at the hospital, where I was the director of labs, and picked up some urine test strips. The next time he left a puddle, I tested it and sure enough it was strongly positive for sugar. My vet, a good friend, saved his life and put him on injectable insulin. There after, I gave him his insulin shot every morning when he awoke. He never flinched and never tried to eat or drink until after his shot!

God, I miss that little dog and my wife!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

medxam
 
Elk do. The day before season a man was watching a large bull elk when it fell over dead. He called the game warden who examined it, determined it died of a heart attack. The man was given the elk since he had a tag for the season next day. He filled his tag with zero shots fired.
 
Yes, they do. We lost a Doberman that way, she was walking down the hall wagging her tail and fell over dead.

She was one of the best and most friendly dogs we've ever had ..She never had her tail or ears cropped so she didn't even look scary. Looked more like the 'flying nun' actually. But we learned early in the game not to leave anything breakable in range of that whiplike tail. (maybe THATS why people dock them?)
 
Never had a dog die like that but one day my Wife called me at work to say something was wrong with the cat. When I got home she was in severe convulsions and had gone blind. She'd had an apparent stroke. It was heart breaking. She was about 14 or so and a sweet cat, an American Tortouise Shell, or PieBald as we call them down here. I had to put her down. It is not a day I'd like to relive.
My little RatPug, Chester, went into convulsions one night after a big day on an out of town trip. I never had heard of that in my life. It scared us so bad. One second he was walking and 'bam', stiffened up like he'd beend shocked and went into stiff legged tremors, then started flopping around. Talk about not know what to do and feeling helpless. The dog doc gave us some valium for him (you wouldn't believe how your supposed to administer it) for if it happens again, which it hasn't and I hope it doesn't.
RD
RD
 
I didn't have mine necropsied but I feel sure I had a cat die from a heart attack. We got a cat as a just old enough to be pregnant cat which had been abused. When we took her to the vet she said she could either save the cat or kittens we chose the cat. Long story short we found her stone cold dead one morning in th middle of the floor for no apparent reason. I feel sure her heart had been weakened by the trauma she suffered earlier. She was NOT an outside cat and so there was no other apparent reason for her demise.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

Ghost Magnum
creepy experience and missing dogs
2
Replies
30
Views
2K
Ghost Magnum
Ghost Magnum
lihpster
Funny cat/dog/velociraptor stories
Replies
6
Views
779
YeshuaIsa53
YeshuaIsa53
Faulkner
Christmas Eve Happy Meal
Replies
21
Views
2K
Faulkner
Faulkner
American1776
Vicious dog attack in our neighborhood.
2 3
Replies
77
Views
3K
somorris
S
muddocktor
Had to have a feral kitten put down today.
Replies
12
Views
661
6string
6string

Latest posts

Back
Top