Advice/ info on a heart murmor, anyone?

[ChrisH]

Discovered today that Alfie has a minor heart murmur. Anyone on the board have/had a dog with similar.

[Lady's Human]

I'd want another opinion, Lady theoretically had a heart murmur diagnosed by the first vet we took her to (2 free visits from the shelter, the second wasn't redeemed......) but ever since no vet has even mentioned it.

[pomtzu]

Myndi (now 16) and Sparky (now 13) both have heart murmurs, and both diagnosed a couple of years ago or more. Myndi's hasn't changed at all and she takes no meds at all for it, and is just fine. Sparky's got worse, and last Fall he was put on Lasix for fluids since he was coughing a lot, even tho his vet can't hear much noise of fluid in his lungs. He was originally on one, twice a day, but has now been increased to 3 per day as needed if I notice him coughing more. He also takes Enalapril to ease the stress on his heart - just a half tablet once per day. He started on that last December, and when he was back to the vet last month, he had stabilized and the murmur hadn't progressed. The murmurs don't seem to affect either of them as far as slowing them down any more than a slow down related to their age, and it's pretty much life as usual, and they get checked every 6 months or so.
I wouldn't worry too much about Alfie unless he shows signs of distress - shortness of breath, coughing, fatigue and the like. I know it's easy for me to say not to worry, since I was really stressed when they were first diagnosed, but when you see that he's his normal self, you'll soon almost forget about it.
Kisses to that cute little guy from me.


ETA: Oh - and be sure to keep his weight at norm, and don't let him put on more weight than he should be carrying. That of course, would put more stress on the heart.

[ChrisH]

Thanks Lady's Human & pomtzu, appreciate the replies.

Lady's Human, I think it is most likely right. Gill, the lady who fostered Albie had already told me that no-one at the shelter had mentioned anything of a heart murmur but that her own vet had diagnosed it. I, of course, didn't tell my vet this before or any time during or after his examination of Alfie.

Thanks for the info pomtzu. I know that a heart murmur is not a disease in itself but a kind of symptom of an underlying problem. From what you tell me about Myndi and Sparky it is kind of pot luck on whether it progresses or not. Thank you for telling me of the signs to look out for.

We are having a spell of hot weather over here and with Alfie being a short nosed breed I am already being careful, I think I will just have to be that little extra careful now.

[pomtzu]

We are having a spell of hot weather over here and with Alfie being a short nosed breed I am already being careful, I think I will just have to be that little extra careful now.

Yes - it has turned hot here too, and the heat does bother these two. They just lay around and don't do anything except lay in the breeze of a fan, but it's best that they aren't active tho. We're headed for the 90's starting this weekend, so the energy guzzling air conditioning will have to get turned on and will probably be on for the rest of the summer. I shouldn't complain - I'd die without it!

[Jessika]

Sometimes when pets get stressed out in the clinic they can sound like they have a murmur. Sometimes they do, sometimes they don't. Depending on the grade, you may not have any clinical signs or any true health problems associated with it. You do want to watch for coughing and exercise intolerance, as that could be a sign of it worsening or other heart problems. But many pets live very normal lives with low-medium grade murmurs.

[ChrisH]

Yes - it has turned hot here too, and the heat does bother these two. They just lay around and don't do anything except lay in the breeze of a fan, but it's best that they aren't active tho. We're headed for the 90's starting this weekend, so the energy guzzling air conditioning will have to get turned on and will probably be on for the rest of the summer. I shouldn't complain - I'd die without it!

80f today with a nice breeze but cooler than that when I took Alfie for a short walk this morning else we wouldn't have gone. Stayed in the house for the rest of the day apart for short sojourns into the garden to hang out some washing to dry. Hopefully won't get any hotter, air conditioning is not a thing people have over here ... except perhaps for the well-off (which I'm not).
I checked out the cooling coats for dogs but they are pretty expensive, even so I may have got one except that Alfie won't wear a normal coat so chances are it would turn out to be a huge waste of money.

Jessika, thank you for your input. As the vet said it was minor I'm now hopeful.
The vet and his nurse remarked how good he was and how he was obviously used to being handled, (he's the same at the groomers) it led them to wonder if he had been shown at some time, but of course that doesn't rule out his being stressed.

[wishbone]

Poor Sparky.