Medication for heart failure..

Hi there - I have a Collie who is 10 yrs old and has a faulty heart valve, I'd be interested to hear from others who have or are going through anything similar.
My dog was put on Vetmedin and has been on it for 7 weeks, all was fine for a while but this week she's been panting more and has fainted a few times. My vet is going to do an ECG scan this week and thinks she may need to go on some medication that acts as a pacemaker, as he thinks her heart is beating too slow. I'm basically wondering if anyone has ever used these 'pacemaker type' pills?
Any info would be appreciated.

Thanks!

my old boy was on vetmedin after suffering fainting episodes. he made a huge improvement and was stable for about a year on it. but age and weak body eventually caught up with him and everything started to shut down and i had to let him go. so im afraid i've no experience of any other medication. but vedmedin does work well. are they not able to increase his dose to see if that settles things? i know its weight based but maybe a small extra dose would be all it needs.

Sorry to hear about your boy
Vetmedin seems great but I think in my dog's situation a different type of medication is needed as well as the Vetmedin. My vet said, it's a medication that will help to increase the heart rate as it's too slow and she faints after the smallest of exercise.
It's a ll a bit of a nightmare..

Thanks for your response though!!

Hi Tasha my dog Amy developed an age related heart problem and a severe heart murmur and began having episodes when she almost lost consciousness and fell over ( caused we think by insufficient oxygen reaching the brain ).

Amy was given an ACE inhibitor, Vasotop 1.25 (generic name Ramipri) which increased the blood flow. They gave her a whole new lease of life for a number of years and she lived to be 16 (she is the dog in my Avatar picture).

It should be remembered no two dogs are quite the same and a medication which works for one dog may not suit another quite so well.

I hope you find something which works for your dog xx

Aww, thanks so much for your reply and how good it is that the ACE inhibitors helped your wee pal! Can I ask what the inhibitors are? Do they control the heart rate of the dog? My vet said Cocoa needs pills that resend the electo message from the brain to the heart! Yikes, I'll be a qualified cardiologist with the info I've gained in the past few months!!
Thanks again for your kind words and helpful advice.
Tash