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Dilated cardiomyopathy can be present for several years without causing significant symptoms. You may not feel any symptoms at all. You may have an achy feeling in your chest and feel tired like you have a bad cold or the flu. Usually, a mild case of myocarditis will go away without any lasting damage. In fact, you may not even know you have it. Severe cases are

often not diagnosed until you have the symptoms of heart failure. Even a severe case may go away without notice, but these severe cases usually cause ongoing heart muscle damage that cannot be reversed. With time, however, the enlarged heart gradually weakens. This condition is commonly called “heart failure,” and it is the hallmark of dilated cardiomyopathy.

Typical signs and symptoms of heart failure include: fatigue; weakness; shortness of breath, sometimes severe and accompanied by a cough, particularly with exertion or when lying down; and swelling of the legs and feet, resulting from fluid accumulation that may also affect the lungs (congestion) and other parts of the body. It also produces abnormal weight gain. (The cough and congestion mimic and, therefore, can be misdiagnosed as pneumonia or acute bronchitis. Also, heart failure is often from heart disease other than cardiomyopathy.)

Because of the congestion, some physicians use the older term “congestive cardiomyopathy” to refer to dilated cardiomyopathy. In advanced stages of the disease, the congestion may cause pain in the chest or abdomen. In advanced stages, some patients develop irregular heartbeats, which can be serious and even life threatening.

If you have dilated cardiomyopathy, you’re likely to have signs and symptoms when the disease has caused heart failure or arrhythmias. Dilated cardiomyopathy symptoms include:

1.Sensation of rapid, fluttering or pounding heartbeats (palpitations)
2.Difficulty concentrating or decreased alertness
3.Lack of appetite and nausea
4.Sudden weight gain from fluid retention
5.Swelling of your abdomen (ascites)
6.Swelling (edema) in your legs, ankles and feet
7.Persistent cough or wheezing
8.Lightheadedness, dizziness or fainting
9.Reduced ability to exercise
10.Shortness of breath (dyspnea) when you’re active or lying down
11.Fatigue and weakness

Signs of heart disease are often not noticed by owners until their pet develops heart failure. Your vet may hear an irregular heart beat on a routine examination and this may be the first sign that your dog has heart disease. Owners most commonly recognise exercise intolerance and breathlessness in their pet but anorexia, depression and excessive drinking are also common. The first sign in many dogs is coughing and collapse. You may notice that your dog has recently lost weight – this may be due to cardiac cachexia. If ascites develops the abdomen may be distended and you must be careful not to misinterpret this swelling as weight gain. Some animals with DCM die suddenly.

For many affected individuals, dilated cardiomyopathy is a condition which will not limit the quality or duration of life. A minority, however, experience significant symptoms and there is sometimes a risk of sudden death. Evaluation by a cardiologist is recommended to confirm the diagnosis and to assess the outlook and particularly the risk of complications. In some patients, symptoms of left- and right-sided congestive heart failure develop gradually. Left ventricular dilatation may be present for months or even years before the patient becomes symptomatic.

Vague chest pain may be present, but typical angina pectoris is unusual and suggests the presence of ischemic heart disease as well. Syncope due to arrhythmias and systemic embolism may occur.