Irregular heartbeat......

[subeeloo]

....since hearing about Sammy's, we've been looking on the internet and have found various sites with FAQ and since reading up on it, we don't have much to worry about, or have we? What our vet didn't tend to tell us was that it's quite common in dogs. We have had to make an appointment to see a specialist 70 miles away to do a cardiology test on him, and according to one site, this is a frequent thing some do, a sort of, i pat your back, you'll pat mine!! Our insurance is going to pay for any treatment of tests he is/may have done, so what has anyone heard about this? We are seriously thinking about getting a 2nd opinion at another practice, what say you?

[supaspaniel]

not sure what to advise really, but I will say that I have to get permission from my insurers before I go for a second opinion and even if my dogs are referred to a specialist (which came about after Linus had spine surgery with a specialist)

[*jean*]

 I dont know if this helps but pepper has an irregular heartbeat. shes had it for years. scince she was apup and she had amurmer that was diagnosed when she was getting her 1st jabs,
 she has only  collapsed once after an exceptionally hard day out on the hill, her tongue was blue and she had to be carried  a mile and a half to the car, by the time i got her to the vet she was ok again, ( call out on a saturday again!)  and shes been fine ever scince.  but she may eventually get heart failure I think as one of her valves is leaking too. I live in the far north of scotland its remote, the nearest vetinary college is in edinburgh. pepper is nervous in the extreme of vets and strangers so at 8 and a half Ive decided to leave well alone.
 shes fine to look at her, super fit. I dont know what the future holds for her  but Ill cross that bridge when I come to it.
she may very well die from old age .

If you are unsure get a second opinion, I cant really advise you there, you know your own vets best ...I trust mine with my dogs lives . by the way  peppers heartbeat isnt always irregular and sometimes her murmer is inaudible. its usually worse when shes stressed eg,  seeing a male vet.. silly girl!!  when pepper goes to the female vet everythings normal... (white coat syndrome in her case!)
good luck.

[kate.s]

I agree with you all that it could turn out to be not that serious.

I know we are different but we can have our irregular heartbeats controlled with medication so why can't dogs.

[LurcherGirl]

One of our lurchers has an irregular heartbeat, I asked our vet about it, he checked it and said it was perfectly fine. He said that the fitter a dog is, the more irregular is their heartbeat. Might be worth getting a second opinion...

[subeeloo]

...thanks for your replies. We are in such a dilemma about this. He was supposed to be castrated yesterday and that is how they picked up on it. We've read even more tonight about it and it's puzzled us even more . We want the best for Sammy obviously, but then again, we don't want to be doing it either just to make some money for the vet! We just have a funny feeling about him (the vet), but the other who is a woman seems to be more patient friendly. I reckon with Sammy being there for 3 hours and being poked and prodded and us not collecting him till 3pm, he must've got himself into a state not knowing where we were, and being in a strange place, god knows how he was while having the ECG! His heart must've been racing with fear, i know mine would've!

[Cob-Web]

What is it about seeing the specialist that concerns you? The insurance will cover the cost, and even if you don't see the expert, now a condition has been diagnosed by your vet, it will be excluded if you were to change insurers etc 

An expert in the field can reassure you and put your mind at rest........

[subeeloo]

What is it about seeing the specialist that concerns you? The insurance will cover the cost, and even if you don't see the expert, now a condition has been diagnosed by your vet, it will be excluded if you were to change insurers etc 

An expert in the field can reassure you and put your mind at rest........

it's not so much the specialist that concerns me, it's our vet that does We know the ins. will cover it all, but since reading up on irregular heartbeat, it's quite a common thing for any breed but what we haven't seen written is, would giving a dog with this condition pulled through an op as common as castration? I would like another vet in another practice to give a 2nd opinion, but since ringing one up, they would need to get in touch with our vet first as they would want his notes and we wanted to do it without our vet knowing.
This is all new to us, as I've said in previous posts, we've never had a dog b4,  hence the reason why I am reg. with COL, so as to get advice and some knowledge about whatever may crop up

[subeeloo]

One of our lurchers has an irregular heartbeat, I asked our vet about it, he checked it and said it was perfectly fine. He said that the fitter a dog is, the more irregular is their heartbeat. Might be worth getting a second opinion...

...that's what I wanted to do, but they need Sammy's notes, and we didn't want our vet to know we wanted one
We've read up on it these last 48hours and it says what you did, it's common and nothing to worry about, yet our vet put the fear of god into us, and told us that any type of stress could kill him without any warning hence the reason for a 2nd opinion and why we are soo confused about it

[LurcherGirl]

One of our lurchers has an irregular heartbeat, I asked our vet about it, he checked it and said it was perfectly fine. He said that the fitter a dog is, the more irregular is their heartbeat. Might be worth getting a second opinion...

...that's what I wanted to do, but they need Sammy's notes, and we didn't want our vet to know we wanted one
We've read up on it these last 48hours and it says what you did, it's common and nothing to worry about, yet our vet put the fear of god into us, and told us that any type of stress could kill him without any warning hence the reason for a 2nd opinion and why we are soo confused about it

In this case, why  not just accept the referral to the specialist... Your vet might have heard something else about the heart rather than just a normal irregular beat or it may be more irregular than is normal... At least you'd know for sure if a specialist looked at it and you would know that you have done the best possible for your dog for when you get him neutered.

Vera

PS. Our lurcher has had general anaesthetics 8 times in 4 years and has never had any problems at all.

[Cob-Web]

In this case, why  not just accept the referral to the specialist... Your vet might have heard something else about the heart rather than just a normal irregular beat or it may be more irregular than is normal... At least you'd know for sure if a specialist looked at it and you would know that you have done the best possible for your dog for when you get him neutered.

That was my point really; once the specialist has seen SAmmy, the vet may be quite happy to neuter him - maybe the vet is just being cautious; which is not a bad thing really 

[subeeloo]

In this case, why  not just accept the referral to the specialist... Your vet might have heard something else about the heart rather than just a normal irregular beat or it may be more irregular than is normal... At least you'd know for sure if a specialist looked at it and you would know that you have done the best possible for your dog for when you get him neutered.

That was my point really; once the specialist has seen SAmmy, the vet may be quite happy to neuter him - maybe the vet is just being cautious; which is not a bad thing really 

I suppose so, thanks

[Annette]

There are all sorts of irregularities. I am sure your vet has your dog's best interest at heart.

You would have been devastated if he didn't tolerate the anaesthetic and then found out that the vet had heard something but decided to not investigate it first, surely?

The fact that castration is common has no bearing in this at all. It is the anaesthetic which is the risk. Any general anaesthetic, whether in dog, cat or human, carries an element of risk, even if it is to remove a grass seed from an ear.

My advice would be to stop searching such a vague term as "irregular heartbeat" on the internet, go for the specialist appointment and wait for his advice.

I know some people are only out to make money, but I don't think it is safe, nor desirable to suspect everyone of this. I may be niaive, but I still consider that vets enter the profession because they care about animals. If their sole aim was to make money, I can think of hundreds of ways which don't involve one of the longest degree courses at uni, long hours and all the other undesireable parts of veterinary medicine.


I hope that Sammy gets the all clear from the specialist and can go ahead and have his op, and a long, fit future.

[subeeloo]

........thanks Annette
It was made clear to us that they didn't want to risk him going under the anaesthetic in case he didn't come out of it
We are leaving the websites alone now, as it was getting us more and more confused about it all. Thanks to all who has given advice to us, it really is appreciated

[Penel]

There is a vet at the practice I go to, who regularly diagnoses heart murmurs....... one friend of mine was told she had to get the dog to a cardiologist immediately as his heart was so bad.  She was terrified - got to the RVC and the cardiologist said there was nothing wrong with his heart it was purely from the stress of being at the vets.  Since then I have had two other friends with dogs diagnosed by the same vet - none of these dogs are on any treatment and they are all fine at the moment.