Cardiomyopathy

Here is my post from my other blog on Cardiomyopathy. A bit of the information is about cats and cardiomyopathy but most is valid for both species or dog-specific.

I did some research on cardiomyopathy and I must say that it is quite an extensive topic.

To put it simply, dogs and cats (and other animals as well) can suffer from Cardiomyopathy. Cardiomyopathy is a disease of the heart which causes it to function improperly/poorly. Boxers seem to have their own set of symptoms when suffering from cardiomyopathy (search: boxer cardiomyopathy). Large/giant breeds of dogs have a higher rate of incidence with this disease (FYI - Doberman Pinchers, Scottish Deer Hounds, and Irish Wolfhounds were commonly named in the articles I read). There are two types of cardiomyopathy that occur in dogs: hypertrophic and dilated. Cats can suffer from three types of cardiomyopathy: hypertrophic, dilated, and restrictive. The details listed in this article are brief descriptions of what occurs in dilated and hypertrophic cardiomyopathy. For more information regarding either of these diseases in cats or dogs, please visit the links listed below the definitions.

Dilated cardiomyopathy is the most common form. It occurs when the chambers of the heart increase in size and the muscles that form the walls become thinner.

Hypertrophic cardiomyopathy is a rare form of this disease, but occurs when the heart's chamber walls thicken, causing decreased pumping efficiency.

More information on cardiomyopathy in Cats -
http://www.2ndchance.info/cardiomyopathy-cat.htm
More information on cardiomyopathy in Dogs -
http://www.2ndchance.info/dogdilcardiomyopathy.htm
http://www.2ndchance.info/conghtfaildog.htm


SOURCES
Hines DVM PhD, Dr. Ron (2006, 06 24). Heart Failure In Dogs - Congestive Cardiomyopathy. Web site: http://www.2ndchance.info/dogdilcardiomyopathy.htm

Cardiac Diseases of Dogs and Cats. from Pets Health Web site: http://www.petshealth.com/dr_library/cardiac.html

10:30 PM Fixies, Unis, and Trials Riders

Tonight I went on a ride with G, A, and E. It was a lot of fun. I was able to keep up with them better (though I still lagged behind at times) as we zipped around campus and town. We rode about fourteen miles total (just piddling around, jumping off of stairs and such) and took a break in the middle to ride to Marble Slab and get some ice cream. On the way back, we stopped by Kyle Field where every Wednesday night at 10:30 PM, fixie riders, unicyclists, and sometimes BMXers gather to just converse and ride their bikes. They do lots of neat tricks and have pretty nifty looking bikes. They also have a very different culture from road bikers or mountain bikers and in my opinion, fixie riders (in general) have a very different culture than BMXers too. I think I will stick to mountain/road biking but it was neat to watch them for a while. The trials riders were awesome...they were a couple and the girl bunny hopped her bike like three or four feet in the air. Then they jumped/rode over the concrete benches in the area...needless to say, I developed a complex tonight haha. No, just kidding. All in all I had a lot of fun and got some exercise in the process (as well as a break from studying) so what more could I ask for?

Ouch!

This weekend I took my sister out to one of the local bike trails for her first mountain ride. It was a lot of fun and she really enjoyed herself, even though she fell off her bike after going over some tough roots just before a descent. She bumped her head (thank goodness for helmets!) and scraped up her knees and arms. I guess we'll be investing in some elbow/knee pads...no more scars! I rode about 6 miles, as I did two and a half laps - one by myself and one and a half (the half was when she fell) with her. We were going to complete her second lap but I didn't have enough tape in my first aid kit to keep the bandages on her knee so we had to duck out early. I'm off to class but will update soon with a post about canine cardiomyopathy - something I posted about a while back on my other blog.