heart murmour

[hblower]

We took orin to the vets tonight for him vaccination and she listened to his heart and said amidst his growling that he might have a very very slight heart mumour.  does he cough get breathless etc.  None of these things.  he hurtles round like a looney, is 9 years old.

has anyone else had one with a heart murmour and how did it affect them.  I know its not something you can do anything about but any info or anything anyone gives their dogs would be good.

[Ben's mum]

Ben was diagnosed with a heart murmur last December, while bring examined for something else. He was 12. It's not made the slightest bit of difference to him thankfully, and recently when he was in for a lump investigation the vet said it had hardly changed at all so not really getting any worse thankfully.

We were told to look out for coughing or breathlessness, I think the only time we saw any impact was on the couple of hot days we had in the summer Ben was quite lethargic, but other than that it dosnt cause any problems

Hope Orin is ok 

[elaine.e]

My first Cocker was diagnosed with a heart murmur when he was 9 or so and then with heart failure a few years later. Despite that, and with the help of some low dose medication, he lived until almost 17 with no further heart problems. His one and only symptom was getting a bit breathless and coughing out on a walk on a very windy day, which is what prompted me to take him to the vet in the first place.

Apart from his medication all I ever did was to make sure he stayed slim and fit, although everything went a bit saggy in the last year or so of his long life!

Have they asked you to take Orin back for a check up in a few months or are they leaving it to you to monitor him? Either way, the vet obviously doesn't think it's a big problem at the moment, and hopefully it will stay that way. My old boy's murmur didn't get worse as he got older.

[tenaille]

Our last cocker had a heart murmur according to the vet, but it never came to anything or affected him. Beaus vet reckons he also has a murmur,  but low grade so no treatment required. After undescended testicles, various swallowed objects, severe Gastrenteritis, lipfold operation and then suspected Pancreatitis just last week I think the insurance company might be sceptical.

[lescef]

Our first two cockers had heart mumurs from an early age. Sometimes the vet could hear them and sometimes not. It never caused them any problems and was not the cause of their deaths at 8 and 13.

[hblower]

Thanks guys, orin is fine and hurtles round the garden etc, laid in the full sun during the hottest days this summer for 1/2 hr at time then kitchen floor then back outside, he hurtles round the garden like a looney in the mornings then up the stairs 2 at a time and onto our bed for cuddles. he LOVES digging loads really quickly, and has long walks, no cough breathless ness etc. swims in the river or sea when itsa hot and we take him so I don't think it bothers him.  The vet hasn't said she wants to see him again.  she did say it could be him growling as he hates the vets and she had to listen really carefully to hear it very faintly if it was there.

he is slim and fit and always has been, we tend to keep him like that. 

We will carry on as he is and just watch out for the breathless ness she said or coughing.

[Finvarra]

Milo was diagnosed with a HM ariund 4 years old. Never caused any problems and although it was mentioned by the vet at every ex amination he lived til 15 and it was not the cause of his death. Our rescue cocker also had one, but he died of cancer at 8. Both lived active zoomie lives.

Lesley and Dylan

[PennyB]

Ruby had one but it turned into congestive heart failure but even then once we sorted meds out as she needed them re the fluid on lungs (and the murmur itself) she was fine with everything she did + Wilf has one now, which isn't treated and he never has any problems with it.

[PennyB]

I took Lady for a heart scan last week (Dave Dickson at HeartVets, Vale Referrals, in Gloucs) to make sure she was OK

It was interesting that the cardiologist who did it said that with spaniels a quiet murmur can be good or bad news (with certain breeds if you hear the murmur on stethoscope its most likely OK but with certain large breeds a quiet one can mean there is a problem but ith spaniels it could be either, which is typical - the cardio I saw does his research in springers)

Thankfully her quiet murmur is fine and unless anything changes which the specialist says is unlikely then am getting her scanned again next year - we were also lucky in the fact that Lady is so good she didn't need sedating either so she went to the top of his list and we were out in an hour

Am pleased I went for peace of mind anyway as I did feel I took some of Wilf's old age symptoms as old age when it may not have been - cost was £500 but the insurance picked up the bill so I paid out £50

[bizzylizzy]

Glad Lady's ok, that is a relief! A lot of money though!

[PennyB]

Glad Lady's ok, that is a relief! A lot of money though!

It is but guess that's why some of us have the insurance so that we can choose to have this peace of mind, as the vets are claiming the money back

[hblower]

oh that's quite a lot but for peace of mind I guess good,  at the moment we are just monitoring.  He hurtles round like a puppy loony!!!  if he does a LOT of digging then we notice he does cough or if he wolfs something down but then we just sit with him and say steady and he is fine so I don't know if this is related to it or not.

fingers crossed he will be ok.

[Mel X]

Hope Orin is now on road to recovery xx