Our grateful thanks to the Afghan Hound Club Of Scotland for their permission to reproduce this article from the 2007 edition of the AHCS Magazine.
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CARDIOMYOPATHY – DILATED
E F Hanratty M.Sc

Many thanks to Betty Hanratty of South Africa for allowing us to use this interesting and informative study.

An Afghan bitch of mine aged 6 years and 10 months died from this disorder recently. The vet had a post mortem examination conducted on her to establish exactly what her problem was, as she was in apparently good health until the last week of her life.

The laboratory report indicated that the cause of her ill-health was Cardiomyopathy – dilated, and that the disorder is fairly common in a wide range of dog breeds, including Afghans. I have heard since of another Afghan, slightly younger than mine, which died recently, and the post mortem in that case also showed Cardiomyopathy present. In both cases the dogs had been euthanised to save further suffering.

As both these dogs were descended from the same strain, we thought it worthwhile to advise other Afghans what symptoms these dogs showed if any.

My black bitch was an apparently healthy, muscular dog with an exceptionally good appetite, in fact she was overweight for most of her life. She was never, ever ill, she saw the vet once a year for annual inoculations, and when young had an operation to remove a spear grass seed from a vein behind her elbow. This seed had entered her body between the toes of her front foot.

In hindsight, there were a number of features which might or might not, have been indicators of something amiss.

1.    She loved to lie in the sun, but soon asked to be inside once more, as the flies could not leave her alone. None of the other 10 dogs I had experienced this problem.
2.    Up to the age of about 3 ½ she would run about wildly with the other dogs. After this time she would run short distances and then drop out of the activity.
3.    I have a raised bath for my dogs, at first she would jump into the bath without assistance, but in the last few years I had to lift her in, or help her as she attempted to jump but could not         make the grade. I put this down to her being overweight and possibly laziness.
4.    She became increasingly tetchy with the younger dogs, much more so than my 12 year old.
5.    She loved to go out and was great in the showring as a young dog. In the last few years she still was enthusiastic about going out but her energy seemed to dissipate very quickly.
6.    In the last few years she spent much more time sleeping than even some of the older dogs.
7.    She became very fiery, and would rush out barking at what she thought were the likely intruders. She never carried the attack any further and would quickly abandon the ‘attack’
8.    From being a wonderfully alert guard dog, she became very apathetic, even when her daughter alerted the household to problems outside.
9.    She developed an intermittent cough, with just a few coughs at a time, usually after drinking water immediately after eating.
10.  She drank an inordinate amount of water. Now that she is gone, I realize how much water she was drinking. And yet she did not urinate all that much and I suspect much of her over weight was oedema.
11.  Finally, what should have been a prime indicator for me, was the condition of her coat. She had always had a coat of excellent quality – long, silky, smooth and abundant, with all the correct patterning. About two years ago after her season, she began the usual coat shedding – bunches of dead ‘woolly hair’, which would create matted messes if not cleared out almost immediately. Normally this process lasts about 4 to 6 weeks before the coat returns to it’s normal condition, but her coat continued to shed month in and month out and her coat never regained it’s original lustre, thickness or length.

Many of these featured I put down to laziness and increasing age and had I listed them as I have done now, I might have been more concerned.

Exactly one week before she was euthanized, she had a massive coughing attack after drinking water immediately after her evening meal. She had been bathed and blow-dried that day, attended two shows over the next two days, still coughing periodically, sleeping a great deal, but also coughing a great deal at night and was still coughing on the Monday after the shows, so I took her to the vet. He was horrified at the condition of her heart and asked one of his partners to check her heart.

She was given medication and a cortisone injection, the latter gave her – and the rest of the household – a peaceful night, but by Wednesday she had deteriorated. By Thursday her drinking bowl was filled with pink water, and by late Thursday and into Friday she was coughing up pink foam about every 20 minutes, despite increase medication. It was then decided she should be relieved of the agony and as the euthanasia took effect, blood poured out of her mouth in a huge pool.

The vet had advised me that in future every time I take a dog for whatever reason into the surgery, I should also see that the heart is checked.

I have listed the 22 Afghans I have owned over the last 40 years, at what age they died and from what they died or were suffering from when they were euthanized. The average age to which 19 of these 22 dogs lived (8 still being alive) was 11 ½ years. Three definitely had heart attacks and a fourth was another possible heart attack victim. In this list I have not included the 15 ½ year old who fell over dead in the garden while playing with puppies, so it does appear that heart disease is remarkably common, I have had the same number euthanised because of cancer.

If I had been able to identify the problem with this dog earlier, she might not have lived all that much longer, but I doubt she would have had such a dreadful end to her life.

Dr Alfred Kidd from the Stellenbosch Veterinary Hospital has supplied me with additional information, some of which is very technical, so I have extracted those parts which may be of value to the lay person.

Systems Affected
Cardiovascular
Respiratory
Renal/Urologic
Organ systems

Genetics
Genetics cause or heritable susceptibility strongly suspected but as yet unproved

Incidence prevalence
Estimated at 0.5 – 1.1%

Geographic distribution
N/A With the exception of Chagas’ Cardiomyopathy which is limited to the Southern United States

Breed predilections
• Doberman Pinscher, Boxer.
• “Giant” breeds: Scottish Deerhound, Irish Wolfhound, Great Dane, Saint Bernard’s,
• Afghan Hounds
• Cocker Spaniels

Mean age and range
4 – 10 years

Predominant sex
Males > Females in most but not all breeds.

SIGNS
Historical finding
- Respiratory – tachypnea, dyspnea, coughing
- Weight loss
- Weakness, lethargy, anorexia
- Abdominal distention
- Syncope
- Some dogs are asymptomatic, having what is termed “occult dialated cardiomyopathy”

Treatment
With the exception of severely affected dogs, most therapy can be administered on an outpatient basis

Activity
Allow the dog to choose its own level of activity

Diet
Goal: reduce dietary sodium intake to <12 – 15 mg/kg/day
Severe sodium restriction is not necessary when using certain medications
Best to use commercially prepared diets

E F Hanratty M.Sc

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Updated 23-07-07