Hi,
I am a professional dog walker. I take groups of dogs to local parks to play and frolic.
I have a beautiful old lab girl. She is divine. She has a enlarged heart which pushes up on her ribs, which can make it hard to breath. She can get very puffy easily. She also has wobbly back legs.
She comes out with me every day, obviously she isn’t up for a run – although she loves having and a outing in the car, visiting new parks, having a bit of a sniff and a sit down for the most of it. On bad days, she gets out of my car, walks 5 meters has a poo and a wee and wants to get back in to my car.
On good days (usually when the weather is much cooler) she will enjoy a light walk.
She will generally follow me around and be right at my side. On her bad days I literally have to sit down right next to her other wise she will push herself to hard to be with me.
My question is; on these good days – should I encourage her to exercise a little more? Would it be better for her to have a bit more of a walk when possible? Or would it cause more stress on her?
Ta.
She is under vet care.
omg – im not going to kill her. she is perfectly happy and enjoys her outings. He owner and I always talk about her outings and her health. Im just wondering if others might see a bit more exercise as of benefit or not.
This is a question to ask her vet. There are many kinds of heart disease and they can cause different reactions to exercise, so find out from the vet who is treating her condition what her limitations are. For most dogs, even those with heart disease, light exercise is advisable to keep their condition from declining further. But you should always consult the vet who is treating the condition before making any changes in her exercise patterns.
I wouldn’t push her, it must be such hard work for her now.
Swimming would be great for her if that is possible.
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The dog needs to see your vet for a health clearance. We are not medical experts and are NOT qualified to answer your question.
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Let her set the pace and see if you can’t find someplace where she could safely swim. Swimming would be easy on her joints.
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Good grief……..leave the poor old fart alone!
Be kinda hard to explain why you killed it,eh?
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The dog knows best when it comes to "limits".
It’s great to hear about 14 yo Lab!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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This is a question to ask her vet. There are many kinds of heart disease and they can cause different reactions to exercise, so find out from the vet who is treating her condition what her limitations are. For most dogs, even those with heart disease, light exercise is advisable to keep their condition from declining further. But you should always consult the vet who is treating the condition before making any changes in her exercise patterns.
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