Cardiac Arrhythmia's

[Newgreymom]

Dylan will be 9 in April and we were at the vet for his chiropratic adjustment today. She listened to his heart and detected what she called an "irregular, irregular heart beat". She said it is not all the time, but there is defintely an arrhythmia that happens from time to time. She asked if he had any symptoms, (passing out, lethargic) and I told her he has NO symptoms what so ever. She wants him to see a Cardiologist. She said it's probably nothing, but it needs to get checked out. I just got home and I'm still shaking..

[Devotion]

no experience with this in a grey but our dachshund has an arrhythmia and does just fine. He's a crazy wild man. These things are much more common in smaller breeds. Talk to a Cardiologist and see what they say. They may just monitor and want a follow up.

[macoduck]

By irregular did she mean murmur? They can have a grade 3 or less and not need medication unless an xray shows an enlarged heart and there are symptoms present.

 

By going to a specialist for her liver, that vet was able to downgrade Niña's murmur and said not to worry about it.

 

I guess it depends on your confidence in the vet's diagnosis and knowledge of greyhounds' hearts, but if going to a specialist will give you peace of mind then do it. Hopefully it would be a simple visit without a lot of expensive testing.

[Guest TaraCoachCougar]

When Cougar had the Big D for 3 days, we went to the emergency vet and she noted the same thing, but in his case it was caused by the dehydration. His follow-up appt. 4 days later confirmed that it was temporary. Any chance of dehydration?

 

Good luck!

[Newgreymom]

Ducky, no it was not a murmur, defintely an arrhythmia. Tara, I don't think it was dehydration, but anything is possible. I'm trying not to freak out until we see the Cardiologist. In the meantime, I am shooting Dr. Couto an email to get his thoughts...

[Guest TaraCoachCougar]

The emergency vet told me to keep him from getting stressed (easy for him to remain relaxed at home), but to not wait for further checking. I planned to go in the next day to regular vet, but he finally started drinking and eating that evening and showed so much improvement the next morning, I waited until his regular appointment scheduled 4 days later. She had mentioned the dehydration and he was definately that. In fact, they gave him some IV fluids. Had there not been the dehydration connection or if any other vet had indicated it before now (he's 13) then I would have went on in the next day or so.

 

Good luck. I hope it turns out to be something small or something that can be monitored and controlled.

[rycezmom]

Dylan will be 9 in April and we were at the vet for his chiropratic adjustment today. She listened to his heart and detected what she called an "irregular, irregular heart beat". She said it is not all the time, but there is defintely an arrhythmia that happens from time to time. She asked if he had any symptoms, (passing out, lethargic) and I told her he has NO symptoms what so ever. She wants him to see a Cardiologist. She said it's probably nothing, but it needs to get checked out. I just got home and I'm still shaking..

 

 

Could that have been irregularly irregular heartbeat which is the hallmark discription of EKG reading of atrial fibrillation.

 

 

The QRS complexes (high peaks) should be evenly spaced with a normal/equal rhythm. (Same distance between each peak. Notice that the QRS (high peaks) are not evenly spaced in the picture. That may be what your vet was inferring. Relax, If it is, it can be dealt with. Let us know what the cardiologist says

[Newgreymom]

Rycezmom, yes you are correct, it is a irregularly, irregular hearbeat. Thank you for helping me with that and giving me reassurance that if it is Afib, it can be dealt with. My Dad has atrial fib and leads a completely normal life on Coumadin.

[Guest greytkidsmom]

It could also be a sinus arrythmia which is a benign arrythmia that is common in greyhounds. It is a normal variability in heart rate that is affected by respiration.

[ahicks51]

From:

 

http://www.gcnm.org/heartnews.html

 

"Many greyhound adopters across the country have been confronted with alarming news from their veterinarians concerning various heart abnormalities in their retired racers. Everything from “heart murmur” to “severely enlarged heart”, “congestive heart failure”, and “tachycardia or arrhythmia” has been offered as an explanation for various, vague symptoms and findings, with minimal evidence to support the diagnosis. And often, these conditions fail to present themselves upon evaluation by a veterinary cardiologist."

 

The whole article is quite enlightening.

[Burpdog]

Health Packet

 

Is this vet familar with greyhounds? There is a different sound than other dogs. If I remember right, there is an echo type effect.

 

From Dr. Feeman's health packet:

 

 

Many Greyhounds can have mild heart enlargement and a mild heart murmur that

can be normal. If your veterinarian hears a heart murmur, it is always a good idea to

take a chest x-ray. If there is some left atrial enlargement (a chamber of the heart) then

an ultrasound of the heart (echocardiogram) would be necessary and should ideally be

conducted by a cardiologist. If only mild generalized heart enlargement is noted, then it

is likely normal for the breed and additional testing may not be necessary. The heart

murmur can be described as systolic (not holosystolic), loudest over the left base, and

likely a grade I or grade II.

From Ohio State:

 

HEART SOUNDS

The heart sounds normally heard in healthy dogs are S1 (associated with closure tensing of the AV valves at the onset of systole) and S2 (associated with closure of the aortic and pulmonic valves at the end of the systole). In addition to these normal sounds, other sounds may be present, such as heart murmurs.

 

 

Heart murmurs (abnormal heart sounds) are not usually part of the normal cardiac physiology, however, sometimes they are not clinically significant.

 

The heart murmurs are described by their timing during the cardiac cycle as systolic (when the heart is emptying or diastolic (when the heart is filling). The intensity of a murmur is graded on a 1 to 6 scale, and its point of maximal intensity is located and described as apex (apical or lower part of the heart) or base (basilar or top portion of the heart).

 

 

In 2006 we made the observation that a grade 1-2/ 6 left basilar systolic murmur was ausculted in many Greyhound blood donors, without evidence of abnormalities on echocardiograms, sometimes the murmur is not heard by auscultation of the heart, but the finding of a bruit (a heart sound heard over a vessel), which is heard using a stethoscope in the carotid artery in the neck, confirm the presence of the murmur.

 

In our study, we found that the b1ood flow velocity in the aortic valve in the Greyhounds with murmurs was significantly higher than in the Greyhounds without murmurs. In conclusion, although a soft murmur is common in adult Greyhounds, it does not appear to be associated with a congenital defect (e.; it is normal in sight hounds) or any CBC differences unique to this breed.

 

Due to these peculiarities in the Greyhound, we frequently receive referrals or consults of Greyhounds suspected of having heart disease, when indeed these findings are normal breed-related idiosyncrasies. This should be taken into account to avoid misdiagnosis and unnecessary medication.

 

 

 

[rycezmom]

Thanks for the additional references. It's always good to catch up on my reading.