The Diagnosis And Medicines Management Of Canine Myxomatous Mitral Valve Disease

Myxomatous mitral valve disease is the most common cardiopathy in small breed dogs.Pomeranian, Pekingese, Papillon, Chihuahua, which are popular in China, are the high riskbreeds of MMVD. Limited to the development of the domestic pet medical level, the systolicmurmurs and chest X-ray are the most common diagnosis methods of canine MMVD. Thisstudy includes the pathogenesis, diagnosis, clinical symptoms and medicines management ofthe MMVD by means of the analysis of the overseas related comprehensive literatures and theclinical cases to provide the guidance and reference for the domestic diagnosis and treatment.With the22MMVD dogs, the age of onset of Pomeranian was30%lower than the mean ageand the mitral valves might be damaged before the presentation of clinical symptoms, whichwas similar to the Cavalier King Charles spaniel. But the age of onset of Pekingese washigher than the mean age that probably due to the insensitive of the masters to the dogs’ longhistory of cough and wheezing. All MMVD dogs had systolic murmurs from a low-intensitymurmur which could be heard only in a quiet environment to a high-intensity murmur withthe tremor of the left precordial chest wall. Cardiac dilatation, bronchoconstriction, bronchialelevation, pulmonary congestion, pulmonary edema and pulmonary vein thickening could beobserved by chest X-ray. In the medicines management of MMVD, with the half ACVIMrecommended dose of pimobendan and ACE-I, the dogs were in a stable condition and theprogress of MMVD might be delayed. Weight and dietary sodium intake control wereparticularly important. For the aging dogs, special diet for them and prescription diet forcardiac health were the best choices. In addition, successful long-time therapy was based ongood collaboration between veterinarians and owners.