We’ve got a three-peat favorite back on the mic—Dr. Karl Jandrey, DVM, DACVECC, emergency & critical care specialist at UC Davis School of Veterinary Medicine. In this “Ask the Vet” deep dive, Dr. Jandrey breaks down how heart disease shows up in pets, what to watch for at home, and what your vet does first in the ER.
You’ll learn the stealth early signs in dogs (like true exercise intolerance vs. stubbornness), when coughing and increased breathing effort mean “go now,” and why small breeds often face mitral valve disease while large breeds are at risk for dilated cardiomyopathy (including the grain-free/taurine connection). We also cover arrhythmias (like AFib) and dramatic collapses, the core ER toolkit (oxygen, ultrasound, diuretics), and practical home monitoring (why ≤30 breaths/min at rest matters).
For cats, Dr. Jandrey explains hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM)—why it’s so hard to spot, the realities of sudden distress or clots (ATE), and what treatment and prognosis can look like. Plus: a quick detour into exciting oncology advances (hello, Lola the Golden Retriever!) and a feel-good moment with Dr. Jandrey’s lab, Danson, a veteran blood donor.
Send us your questions for a future Ask the Vet!
Highlights / What You’ll Learn:
- Early, often-missed signs of cardiac disease in dogs
- Mitral valve disease vs. dilated cardiomyopathy—who’s at risk and why
- ER playbook: oxygen, Lasix (furosemide), rhythm control, point-of-care ultrasound
- Home check: how to count resting respiratory rate and what numbers matter
- Cats & HCM: silent disease, clots, emergency steps, and tough decisions
- Meds 101: pimobendan, digoxin, diuretics—where they fit
- Diet note: taurine and the grain-free discussion
We also briefly discuss:
pet heart disease, dog coughing heart, resting respiratory rate dog, dilated cardiomyopathy dogs, mitral valve disease small dogs, hypertrophic cardiomyopathy cats, cat blood clot back legs, veterinary ER, pimobendan for dogs, taurine deficiency grain-free
https://www.vetmed.ucdavis.edu/faculty/karl-e-jandrey
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Support our sponsor for this episode Blue Buffalo by visiting bluebuffalo.com. BLUE Natural Veterinary Diet formulas offer the natural alternative in nutritional therapy. At Blue Buffalo, we have an in-house Research & Development (R&D) team with over 300 years’ experience in well-pet and veterinary therapeutic diets, over 600 scientific publications, and over 50 U.S. patents. At Blue Buffalo, we have an in-house Research & Development (R&D) team with over 300 years’ experience in well-pet and veterinary therapeutic diets, over 600 scientific publications, and over 50 U.S. patents.
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All footage is owned by SLA Video Productions.
