Concurrent CHF/Renal failure

[Tinka10753]

I just lost my beloved 11 and 1/2 yr old Whippet in January to both CHF and renal failure. She was overweight last 5 yrs of her life and I know that didn't help her health, however she was never in the "obese" category. She was actually healthy all of her life during routine check ups. Last Summer, I noticed she seemed to be drinking more water and of course urinating more ,but I totally ignored it! I made the God awful decision to chalk it up to being do to warm weather, etc. I also made the tragic assumption that her  decreased activity level was do to her getting up in years. The point is there were clues and I shrugged them off. I was working too full time and mostly, she seemed OK otherwise. She ate and played, but just seemed to be slowing down. By November, she seemed to have backed off on the increased thirst. So much in fact that when I took her to the veterinarian for her routine vaccine in Nov, I never mentioned it to him! Besides being worst dog owner on earth, I was also in process of going down south for the winter and had a million things on my mind. My question/s is this: she had complete physical back in April last year by a different veterinarian and was deemed healthy. Less than a year later, in January of this yr, she was diagnosed with renal disease (bun/ creat off the chart) and a grade one heart murmmer, enlarged heart with fluid heard in lungs. Why /how did this happen so quickly and presumably, go unnoticed by two different vets? We hospitalized her for 4 days here in the south with some improvement, but she quickly deteriorated two days later at home, fainting twice on us after horrible coughing spells. The hospital she was at is top notch and we believed/respected what one of the vets told us: it would only get worse and the end would not likely be peaceful do to she likely would develop respiratory failure. And we were 45 minutes away so no way were we going to a!low our dog die a horrible death at home or on way to hospital. So  my husband and I made gut wrenching and heart breaking decision to have her put to sleep. I blame myself for not paying closer attention to someone whom I devoted my life to for over 11 yrs. Maybe I knew deep down something was going sour, but went into denial so much that I didn't even bring it up to her reg veterinarian!
Which came first, renal failure or CHF? Why was her renal panel normal in April and abnormal 8-9 months later? And finally, my dog was overweight, but in my experience, not all overweight dogs develop the issues mine had. I realize that's a stupid observation to make. Being overweight never a good thing for either humans or canines, but none the less, my heart continues to grieve. Worst yet and no offense to the "lucky owners" out there whose dogs are doing great with their CHF and/ or renal issues, but it actually makes me feel worse like maybe I should have tried harder to save her.