Posts and tweets on: Heart disease

Photo: Shutterstock.comIf you find yourself overthinking your explanations for heart disease or breaking out a thesaurus to translate those hard-to-understand clinical terms into ones laypeople will understand, stop right there. These posts were made for you. Use them to tweet and write posts to keep your clients informed and, most importantly, keep them in touch with you and your veterinary clinic regarding their pet's health.

Ready-to-use social media posts

DYK? When the heart experiences congestion, it's much like a traffic jam. The blood-traffic-can't move forward like it usually does, so it builds up behind the problem area. This congestion builds up in the lungs if the left heart is failing and in the body if the right heart is failing.

A look on the inside: Fluid leaks into the lungs with left heart failure and into the abdomen with right heart failure. In the lungs, fluid fills the tiny sacs where only air should normally be-this makes exchanging oxygen more difficult, which means your pet has to take more breaths. This increases the breathing rate and effort, and sometimes causes a cough. If you notice your pet having trouble breathing or coughing, make an appointment with us to get her checked out!

Do you know the signs of congestive heart failure? Here's what you need to look for:

> Increase in breathing

> New cough or increase in frequency of cough (dogs only)

> Excessive panting or wheezing

> Restlessness

> Decreased appetite

> Lethargy

> Weakness

> Collapse or fainting

If you see any of these problems, make time with us to get your fur baby looked at!

Ready-to-use tools to post

Talking to your client about heart disease is great, especially if they retain all of the information you give them. But sometimes stuff slips through the cracks. Shout it out on social media to keep it top of mind for pet owners. Here are a couple of posts for go-to tools veterinary clients can use.

Stay on top of the possibility of heart disease by knowing the kinds of disease and the signs your pet may have with them by checking out this handy chart from CVCA – Cardiac Care for Pets (Psst! Vets! You can find the chart here.)

We know you didn't go to veterinary school, so when it comes to topics like congestive heart failure, fancy clinical terms might not make sense. Still, it's important to know what's happening-and what to look for-in your pet's body when he or she runs the risk of heart failure. Check out this handout, where we lay it all out for you. (Hey vets! Download it for use here.)