Bao's blood pressure is up. Bummer.
We've increased the carvedilol -- but it's tricky. The right amount will (hopefully) bring his blood pressure back down, but too much can send him into heart failure. I have to watch him for signs of lethargy, weakness and loss of appetite.
This isn't as easy as it sounds. Bao has always been a couch potato rather than a jock. His idea of a perfect afternoon is a belly rub followed by a nap in the sun. (He loves it when I get a cold, because if I stay in bed all day, so can he) And it's been unseasonably hot, here in Scottsdale. How do you pinpoint lethargy in a little dog who hates 100-degree-plus temperatures and doesn't do much anyhow?
Of course, as regular readers of this blog already know, I tend to be hypervigilant where Bao is concerned. Especially now that he has this mitral valve thing. So he sleeps, and I fret.
I know there's a machine you can buy that reduces blood pressure in people. You listen to music and it somehow slows down your breathing and this -- for reasons I don't quite understand -- lowers your blood pressure which then stays low, even after the music has stopped.
I wish there was something like that for dogs!