Published in Scientific Works. Series C. Veterinary Medicine, Vol. LXIII, Issue 1
Written by Florin LECA, Ana-Simina MIHAI, Nicolae DOJANA
Five healthy Golden Retrievers aged from 1.5 to 3 years old, three males and two females, were studied during a normal “playing” time considered as submaximal exercise, under ordinary circumstances, preserving the usual routine (location, normal weather conditions, to the same group). From the medical history, it was excluded previous symptoms as fatigue or other cardiac related symptoms based on subjective observations. Each individual heart rate was measured ten minutes intervals, during 60 minutes exercises, using a heart rate monitor device. Blood lactate was measured with fast strip, at the beginning and at the end of the test. The results showed that heart rate was normal in 4 cases, ranging between 101 and 173 beats per minute( bpm), and abnormal in one dog reaching the maximal heart rate during a submaximal test, with four consecutive values between 215 and 245 bpm. The lactate values were normal for all the subjects, at the end of the test, none of the dogs achieving the superior lactate threshold. After performing a cardiac examination in all five subjects (including Doppler echocardiography and Holter electrocardiogram), a good correlation was observed between heart rate values of the dog that reached maximal heart rate and a suspicion of a cardiac problem (preclinical case of dilated cardiomyopathy), but no evidence of altered or a raise in blood lactate under this submaximal test.
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