Heart murmur **update not good i dont think**

[Merlinpoppy]

I had merlin at the vet yesterday for his puppy check and his first jag.  The vet says he has a heart murmur.  I have a few questions about it.

How likely is it to be away buy his next jag?
How could it effect him?
because it has been picked up now im guessing i cant change insurance companies?
If it is away but in a few years he has something with his heart will it be covered if i ever changed?

[bluegirl]

Often they disappear when they are picked up on young dogs. It is likely if the vet heard something that it would be a low grade murmur ie grade 1 which again doesn't require medication or shorten lifespan. I'd ask when you go back for the second injections for them to check again and if its still there ask what grade they think it is. It is quite common.

[jessandme]

Re a possible insurance company change - unlikely that your vet will have put anything about this in the notes.     It really is quite common, and does not indicate that problems are likely later in life.   If it was severe then the vet would have talked to you about it quite a bit, ordered some tests and medication etc. 

Both of our cockers had this when they were tiny, with both of them it soon disappeared.  With Lucy it was not detectable when she had her second injection - with Jess, it took a bit longer but was gone by 4 months.   We twigged about it not being in the notes because each time we were back at the vet, we asked about the heart murmur, and the vet didn't know she'd had one at all.

[Robbie34]

Charley has had a heart murmur for more years than I can remember.  He's nearly fifteen and still going strong, albeit deaf, blind and a tad senile.

[scotsclyde]

Piper had a heart murmur at 7 weeks and it was gone at 10 weeks.

[Helen]

Piper had a heart murmur at 7 weeks and it was gone at 10 weeks.

Jarv too 

I don't believe it was a murmur in his case, just one of those puppy things 

[Sula]

My breeder raised this issue as likely to happen if I took Raisin to the vet before he had settled with us. She had a person who got one of her puppies previously and had phoned her in a panic as she took the new puppy almost straight to the vet. when he examined him he said he has a murmur. The breeder knew her vet had not heard this and said to the new owner it was maybe because the puppy was stressed and the heart was beating so fast it developed an echo. She promised to take the puppy back and refund the money, but after the puppy had his second jag, lo and behold no murmur was apparent second visit. We are taking Raisin to the vet today and we have had him since last Wednesday as I wanted to make sure he was settled with us first. Can I ask how long you have had him please?

Having said the above, that does not mean that Merlin is in the clear, some dogs do have them and as you can see live long and fun lives. I hope that this is a stress related problem and soon he is given the all clear. If that is the case make sure the vet changes the note in his file to show he does not have one. Please let us know what happens when he goes back.

[Merlinpoppy]

We only got him on sunday so maybe it is just the stress.  Im pretty sure the vet has put it in his notes because i asked if it would be covered by the insurance if it became an issue and she said no because it had been picked up now.  I said he was insured (the free insurance from the KC) and was told i would need to stay with them now.  Dont really want to do that because its £25 a month and i imagine it will only keep increasing

[Helen]

you need to look at the Insurance board on the forum.  My insurance is extortionate however I've had 2 small incidents with Jarvis in the last year and the first one (torn tongue resulting in him being knocked out for exam/treatment) was £272.00, and the recent Out-of-hours grass seed on his ear drum was £317.02  so it evens out vs the premium costs very quickly.

These are really minor incidents as well - the vet bills could easily run into the thousands for leg ops etc 

[Sula]

The insurance is expensive but I would not risk having dogs and not having it. Since he has been with you a short time it might be the stress - but that will then mean the next check shows the heart is normal and you can ask the vet to remove the diagnosis from his notes then so fingers crossed that is what happens.

[PennyB]

Wilf had a murmur at 8 weeks and nothing at 13 weeks and the vet who checked him out when he had his booster said he had a really strong heart (age 9). Have heard re pups its often where the heart hasn't properly formed which is why it then disappears a few weeks later.

[Ruby Tuesday]

Surely you could change companies, but you would have to declare it, which of course might affect the premium. All rather unfair really as it is a common finding and often clears up and causes no problems.

[Geordietyke]

Although not the same situation and Odie isn't a pup anymore (he's 2.5 yrs), when he was diagnosed with his Addison's Disease in April this year, whilst he was having his meds checked and increased etc, the vet detected a heart murmur (he'd never had one before).  It was graded at a 3/4 at the time.  Of course I was beside myself but at his next check up about 2 weeks later, it had disappeared!  In our case, I think it was down to the quickness of getting lots of meds/being on a drip for a weekend which caused it though. 

[Merlinpoppy]

Well we were back at the vet today and the vet (different one) has said he still has a murmum and says its a grade 3.  She checked and the vet last time put it down as a grade 1.  Does this mean its got worse then?
The vet wants to do a scan and says it will cost between £800-£1200

[bluegirl]

I was in this situation once, a pup had a heart murmur before 8 wks, it  was not detected at 8 wks and went to new home murmur free. The pups new vet however detected a murmur and told the new owners it wasn't good and the only way to be sure was to by referred to a heart specialist for a proper scan etc. The new owners decided to bring the pup back and I went back to my own vet to get the pup checked again. The heart murmur was just about detected and he said he felt sure it was the type that the pup would grow out of. I asked why could the murmur be there for one person and not another. He explained it was subjective and what one thought was 1 could be a 2 for someone else.

My pup did grow out of the murmur as he thought would happen.

There is however a bigger difference between a 1 and 3 and whilst I wouldn't jump at a specialist appointment right away I would maybe have the same vet as first time round have another listen and see what they say so you have a comparison done by the same person. Then take it from there.