![]() These symptomatic dogs tend to require treatment quickly to avoid fatal collapse in the subsequent days to months.Įither way, an electrocardiogram (ECG, EKG) is necessary for observing the rhythm of the heartbeat and confirming that sick sinus syndrome is or is not present. In other cases, the overt symptom of collapse and loss of consciousness may be the first clue that leads to finding sick sinus syndrome. These asymptomatic dogs tend to have earlier, milder forms of sick sinus syndrome and may not develop life-threatening problems as quickly. The first indication of this disorder may be that a veterinarian finds that an affected dog has an unusually slow heart rate, which is not increased by exercise. The hallmark symptom of sick sinus syndrome is sudden loss of consciousness (fainting), also called syncope. Overall, then, sick sinus syndrome is a disorder that causes an erratic change in the heartbeat, and that begins mildly and then develops over time into a potentially life-threatening problem. Other dogs have the opposite: a heart rate that suddenly is very fast, causing a pounding heartbeat and also compromising the circulation. Some dogs suddenly have a heart rate as slow as 10 beats/minute, even during physical exercise this causes a drastic drop in circulation, and then they recover for hours or days before having another sudden drop in heart rate. In sick sinus syndrome, the heart's natural ability to beat is compromised. ![]() ![]() Normally, a dog's heart will beat at a rate as low as 40 beats/minute during sleep and as high as 280 beats/minute during intense exercise. Sick sinus syndrome (also called sinus node dysfunction or bradycardia-tachycardia syndrome) is a disturbance of the normal rhythm of the heart in adult/older dogs. ![]()
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