The heart is very important; pumping blood around the body and keeping your pets healthy and full of bounce. Because it a complictated organ, many things can go wrong, including heart muscle stretching, heart contraction becoming irregular or a heart valve failing to close. This makes the heart less efficient and means that it will not be able to pump blood around the body so effectively.

Many irreversible changes can occur before your pet shows signs of ill health. For that reason we are offering these free heart examinations to detect hidden heart problems. If problems are detected early, we can prevent them worsening by using a range of treatments.

We are offering a free heart examination the following dogs...

• dogs treated with Fortekor
• dogs treated with Vetmedin
• Cavalier King Charles Spaniels
• Boxers
• dogs over 8 years old
• all dogs must belong to registered clients of Ash Veterinary Surgery

If your dog was suffering from heart disease, you might notice:

• coughing
• noisy or rapid breathing
• reluctance to exercise
• tiring more quickly
• fluid swelling the abdomen

If you think your dog is showing any of these symptoms, it may be that they are suffering from heart disease. Please make an appointment at the surgery as soon as possible. Even if they do into fall into the categories above for the free heart check, they could be suffering from a heart problem and a simple examination could save their lives.

Unfortunately our free heart examinations finished on the 31st December 2009. We hope the information in this news item has been help to you.