Objective\ To compare the characteristic of cardiac function in two different congestive heart failure animal models.Methods\ To establish different congestive heart failure animal models with abdominal aortocaval shunts and ligature of the left coronary artery respectively was established in rats. The cardiac function test was with Doppler echocardiography.Results\ All the rats in both groups had developed cardiac hypertrophy.Ejection fraction (EF) of rats with aortocaval shunts decreased,but cardiac output (CO) and blood pressure (BP) in this group maintained normal.While EF,CO and mean artery pressure (MAP) all reduced significantly in ligation rats,IRT increased in this group.Conclusions\ Abdominal aortocaval shunts leads to high output cardiac failure.Cardiac failure resulted from ligation of coronary artery is low output,which is more severe.Doppler echocardiography provides a simple,reliable easy\|follow\|up way to test cardiac function in rat.\;