AFGHANS ARE US -HEALTH

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

Our thanks also to Audi Knowles from the NAHC for giving us permission to reproduce it on Afghans Are Us

 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 apparently in 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 since heard 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 euthanased to prevent further suffering.

 As both these dogs were descended from the same strain, we thought it worthwhile to advise other Afghan owners 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 ill, she saw the vet once a year for her annual inoculations, and when young had 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 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 have had to lift her in, or help her out as she attempted to jump but could not make the grade. I put this down to her being overweight and possible 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 show ring as a young dog, in the last few years she was 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 very 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 drinking water.

10.  She drank an inordinate amount of water. Now that she is gone I realise just how much water she was drinking. And yet she did not urinate all that much and I suspect much of her ‘overweight’ was oedema.

11.  Finally, what should have been the 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 2 years ago after her season, she began the usual amount of coat shedding – bunches of dead ‘woolly hair’, which would create matted messes if not cleaned 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 did regain it’s original lustre, thickness or length.

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

 Exactly one week before being euthanased  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 out her heart.

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

 My vet had advised me that in future every time I take a dog for whatever reason into the surgery I should 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 euthanased. The average age 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 of heart attacks I have not listed the 15 ½ year old who fell over dead in the garden while playing with puppies, so it does not appear that the heart disease is remarkably common. I have had the same number euthanased 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

 Cariovascular

 Respitorary

 Renal/Urologic

 The organ systems

 Genetics

 Genetic cause or heritable susceptibility strongly suspected but as yet unproven.

 Geographic Distribution

 N/A except with the exception of Chagas’ Cardiomyopathy which is limited to the Southern United States.