Enlarged Heart

Question
I have two miniature schnauzers that are 9 years old. (litter mates).They have never had health problems but I noticed that one had an occasional problem with what seemed like a bad back so my vet sent him to a vet neurologist for an MRI which showed minimal disk problems.  But in addition the MRI showed a very large heart. The vet had a cardiologist look at the MRI and she said that his heart is huge but since he doesn't have symptoms of heart disease, like a murmur, that it's probably fat tissue. He is a very thin dog so he doesn't appear to be overweight. Vet said to not feed him anything but vegetables and top dry dog food.  Have you heard of an enlarged heart due to "fat"? I love this dog so much and want to do everything I can to keep him feeling good.  Thank you.

Answer
While I have not heard of this, the fact that your vet wants you to only feed your guy vegetables and a good quality kibble leads me to believe that he thinks your dog is a bit overweight. I did find the following after a bit of a search: "An enlarged heart, as determined by ultrasound studies, does not always indicate disease of the heart. Certain physical conditions, such as obesity, natural aging changes or low thyroid can result in an enlarged heart, however the presence of actual cardiomyopathy (heart disease) such as congestive heart failure is not always the culprit." http://www.gcnm.org/heartnews.html

So watch those treats (ice cubes make a great zero calorie treat), and try to give your guy a bit more exercise.

Karen