Our healthy happy eight year old Border Collie, Ginger, went to the vet today for innoculations and exam. When he put his stethescope over her heart, I could see in his face that something was wrong. He said she had a heart murmur, at the lowest detcetable level. :eek:
He wasn’t realy forthcoming about what we should do, and I don’t have a good feeling about this vet anyway, so what should I do? How serious is this? I get the feeling off the interwebs that degree of murmur doesn’t corellate with danger, and should signal the need for a further workup. I have to assume that she didn’t have this before, since it is so easy to spot, so was there some triggering event like a heart attack or a stroke? Does our doggie need a cardiologist? If so, what could be done?
I am tired of losing loved ones, and it is not her time yet. She behaves just as she did when we first got her at 8 months, full of pep and energy. Any advice would be most appreciated. I have already lost one dog this year and I don’t want to lose another. Thanks.
First of all - was the murmer recently aquired? Any idea if your dog had no murmer in the past? Aquired murmers happen in middle aged and older dogs and aren’t usually a cause of morbidity.
A cardiologist would ultrasound your dog’s heart and figure out the source of the murmer. If you’ve GOT to know what’s up, that’s the way to go. If your dog appears healthy, happy and in good shape overall (not anemic, heartworm negative, etc.) then you could follow it with check-ups for a while and see what happens.
Well, per my OP, I have to assume it was recently acquired, she has had regular medical care, and I could see the instant the guy saw it so it must be an obvious symptom, so how could they have missed it before?
Any help or other advice on how to proceed will be appreciated.
If she is not having anything symptomatic going on- a low grade heart murmur is usually not a cause for major concern. I would have them do an EKG- those are relatively inexpensive (we charge about 70.00) and will evaluate the function of the heart. Also, a full round of bloodwork to make sure there isn’t an underlying, treatable condition that may cause the murmur. My own Wily cat recently was evaluated with high grade heart murmur related to his thyroid condition (not saying this is what your dog has), his heart function made him pretty sick and we checked his thyroid and it was of the charts again and while he doesn’t have a good prognosis now (thyroid level doesn’t want to be controlled anymore ), the heart murmur has been greatly reduced with his increase in meds, plus he feels a lot better for now. Even with the heart murmur though, his EKG came back fine- so its a good tool to let you know if the murmur is part of a heart dysfunction or another issue.
Many dogs live with heart murmurs most of their lives and they usually only require yearly monitoring to make sure they are not getting worse. Border Collies are usually pretty hardy little buggers (I have 6 here , including two 12 year olds) and a low grade heart murmur shouldn’t slow her down any :). Good wishes for your pup!
I have a 14-year-old cat with a very low-grade murmur. When it was first diagnosed, the vet said it was only barely detectable. The next vet who saw her didn’t even catch it! It’s been more than five years since we caught it, and she’s doing just fine. We have had no other diagnostic tests run.
I had a dog that had a murmur. We just had to have her heart checked every few months to make sure nothing changed. I could still take her for walks but could not over do it. She was 14 when she died of congestive heart failure. The vet said the murmur was likely NOT the cause of the heart failure.
My cat that passed away last year at 17 lived his whole life with a murmur. He died of pancreatic cancer. It’s not a death sentence at all. Just keep an eye on it. Also, if you are wary of the current vet, get a second opinion.
and while he doesn’t have a good prognosis now (thyroid level doesn’t want to be controlled anymore ), the heart murmur has been greatly reduced with his increase in meds, plus he feels a lot better for now. Even with the heart murmur though, his EKG came back fine- so its a good tool to let you know if the murmur is part of a heart dysfunction or another issue.