puppy heart murmer

[dog22]

i have been without benji for over a year now.my daughter in law has told me of a cocker spaniel puppy last of the litter that cost 650 i just couldnt afford it but since then she has told me that the puppy has been found to have a heart murmer and the owner is now willing to give away.question is do i reconsider and if i do what is the possible future for the pup?

[mooching]

It would be helpful IMO to know if the heart murmur has been diagnosed by a vet, and, if so, what grade it is.

It could end up hardly affecting the dog; could even disappear completely. But if it doesn't, and just looking objectively at this, it could all end  up costing you a lot of money, since it would not be covered by any insurance you took out (being a preexisting condition).

[dog22]

hi yes i am going to try and find out(as in if the breeder will be honest)what grade the murmer is.wondering what will happen to the puppy otherwise.

[elaine.e]

Completely agree with mooching, but in addition do you know much about the breeder and the litter? For instance, have the parents been health tested for PRA and FN (and if so you should be able to see the paperwork), what kind of environment have they been raised in etc.

I don't know much about heart murmurs, although I had an oldish Cocker who had one and lived a perfectly normal life on a low dose of medication. I did a Google search and came up with this  http://www.southillvets.co.uk/svs/factsheets/101-heart-murmurs.html?ec115261adc983ed04808a9d6bea456e=5545e80de39347e7f0d162194d1b2f1d which is to a vet website and gives lots of information. In addition, there have been a number of posts on COL in the past about puppies being diagnosed with heart murmurs and I think most of those murmurs disappeared as the puppy matured.

Good luck with whatever you decide, but please make that decision with as much information as you can get about this puppy's health. Hopefully the breeder is genuine and wants the best for the puppy, but maybe he/she's just trying to pass on a problem that he/she doesn't want to take responsibilty for.

[JeffandAnnie]

I would be concerned that if you can't afford £650, can you afford to take on a puppy which might cost much more than that in vet bills as the heart murmer (and potentially other conditions that may relate to it) won't covered by insurance?

[PennyB]

I would be concerned that if you can't afford £650, can you afford to take on a puppy which might cost much more than that in vet bills as the heart murmer (and potentially other conditions that may relate to it) won't covered by insurance?

I agree - if the pup does have a murmur (bearing in mind a lot of pups have them but they go away a few weeks later - Wilf had one detected when he was 8 week shut it had gone by the ime he was 12 weeks old) then the costs throughout the pup's life could be considerable.

[mooching]

If you decide not to have the pup, you could always tell the breeder that Many Tears will be likely to take him/her.

[Ninasmum]

Yes you really need to find out the grade of the heart murmur before deciding.  One of our puppies had a low grade heart murmur which was picked up at 8/9 weeks of age & thankfully he grew out of it within a few weeks. 

[mooching]

I recall too that Many Tears had a pup not so long ago that had been given up by the breeder because it had a heart murmur (think it was a Cavi). When Many Tears' vet checked it, it was found that it didn't have a heart murmur at all but a lung problem that was treatable.

Another reason why it's important to know whether or not a vet has diagnosed this.