lasix

[najisiegel]

My dog has been diagnosed with congestive heart failure.  She is on lasix twice a day and enalapril.  She began to cough a bit again tonight.  She is about 70 pounds.  Can I safely give her two more pills of lasix?

[peekawho]

Call your vet before you do anything, unless they have already instructed you on what to do.  If your vet does not take phone calls after hours, you can often call an emergency vet clinic, describe the issue, and they can sometimes give you advice.

If she's having extreme trouble breathing, you should take her right to the nearest clinic.  If its just an infrequent cough, you may be ok waiting until the morning.

[sojka123]

lasix is a pretty safe drug and extra may help in an urgent need, but it is not a magic bullet and it takes time for her to pee off enough fluid to affect the amount of edema in her lungs.  

ask the prescribing docs as soon as you can.  in addition to lasix and enalapril, ask about digitalis and low sodium diets.  

CHF is something you will be managing for the rest of her life and it not only takes a while to find the right doses of various drugs to help her, but you will be adjusting them often.