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Irish Wolf Hound Cardiac Case

by landauvet - January 24, 2010

Hi Steve,

I have been seeing a 6 year old Male Wolf Hound for episodic pain evidenced by crying out with activity and reluctance to lift head and neck.
My initial exam, I performed a chiropractic adjustment. TCM diagnisis:tongue was thick with a lavender underside. Pulse was very deep and wiry.

I could not find points that helped the pulse by acupressure, however, LIV-3 made the pulse very hard to feel.
I decided to leave herbs and acupuncture out the first visit.
Second visit: Much less painful. Tongue and pulse the same. Bl-17 tonification seemed to help. Other points treated included LI-10, Liv-13, GB-34. Chiro again. RX: XFZYT
Third visit. Pain gone. Pulse deep, thin, and fast. Pulse deficits felt as well as a HR between 170-240. Pulses palpated as choppy and irregular.
BL-14,15, BH, SP-6, HT-7, GB-34 all treated. Not sure what helped the pulse.
RX: CHJLGMLT and SP Canine Cardiac Support

After this appointment, I sent the owner for a cardiac work-up. Cardiologist thought the pulses were fine, NR echo, NR EKG. They tested cardiac enzymes and found drastic elevations but did not know what to do about it because the rest of the workup was normal.

Three days ago this dog's sibling dropped dead of suspected cardiovascular incident. Owner is frieking. The dog has been on the herbs and is basically asymptomatic except for this tachyarrhythmia. Owner considering beta blockers.

How would you approach this tachyarhythmia?

Thanks so much,
Kevin

by naturevet

January 24, 2010

Hi Kevin,

Interesting case. Regarding tachyarrhythmias in general, Ginseng and Hawthorne both have research to back them up and are more suited to deficient dogs. I find Ginseng works quite quickly, with robust dosing showing obvious improvements in EKGs and ultrasounds in some dogs with VPCs and Vtach.

The other approach to arrhythmias with research backing is the use of cold bitter herbs. Berberine may be the active component here, but has a similar inotropic and negative chronotropic effect to Ginseng. I'd only use it in hot animals. A rapid and strong pulse would sway me from 'deficient' herbs like Ginseng and towards bitter herbs with berberine. CHJLGMLT has both, and so it's not a bad formula to start with. It also fits the neck pain with its involvement of the Shao Yang.

Otherwise, we could tweak XCHT by adding Huang Lian (Coptis) to get a more concentrated anti-arrhythmic effect. Use about 12g per 100g.

Hopefully things will go well here for you. I'd stay on top of things and recheck the dog at least weekly. If you're effective, you should be seeing the heart rate drop by then.

If neck pain were persistent, I'd use Chai Ge Jie Ji Tang, which is quite rich in berberine, too.

Good luck!

Steve

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