Heart and Lung
Functions
Remember the childhood song "the knee bone's connected to the..."? The body is the most brilliant machine in existence and all parts affect other parts. The heart and lungs function independently while supporting each other. Oxygenated blood from the lungs travels to the heart where it's pumped back into the body. When either lungs or heart are functioning less than optimally, the body attempts to compensate and the heart may enlarge while unable to pump efficiently. The lungs may congest.
Supporting Health
Essential fatty acids are part of every cell in the body. Wild Salmon Oil has been proven to help heart function. Taurine is critical to heart health and has been found to be deficient in many home-prepared and commercial diets. For this reason, some commercial diet manufacturers are adding it to their formulations.
CoQ10 can help in many ways including oral health and oxygentating blood. Bacteria from the mouth, particularly from under the gum line, enters the blood stream, thus able to negatively impact the heart.
B vtamins play critical roles and studies show that they can support heart and lung functions. Ellagic Acid in combination with vitamin E (see Antioxidant Booster) has been shown to positively impact heart health.
For Further Reading
Protective Action of Ellagic Acid in Experimental Myocarditis by Dr. LV Iakovleva et al Ellagic acid to protect the heart - but lower doses seem to do better than higher ones.
Vitamin B-6 and Coronary Disease by Dr. S Friso et al - Low PLP values (a component of B-6) can indicate coronary disease
Nutritional Therapy in the Treatment of Heart Disease in Dogs by Dr. RS Dove Dietary supplements can help dogs cope and combat heart disease
Valvular Heart Disease in Dogs by Dr. J Rush - This full-text PDF file is an in-depth description of the disease itself