Enlarged Heart And Murmur

[Charlies_Dad]

When Jack's toe was amputated, our vet opted for a chest x-ray just to be 110% sure that if it was cancer something had not spread. All was good except the other vet who did the amputation reported that he has an enlarged heart. I was like, "all Greys have large hearts generally" but he was adamant it was much larger than it should be. He showed me how they calculate it and while I listened, I was skeptical because he was using a calculation that he uses for all other dogs who do not have large hearts normally. He also mentioned that Jack has a murmur and he felt that there was some concern but it's not life threatening at this time. Here's a couple pics:

 

 

 

I don't recall the calculation exactly, something to do with the size of the heart in relation to a vertebrae or something like that. Has anyone else heard of this calculation and is it relative to Greys because they are known to have large hearts?

 

Tks.

[JJNg]

Jack's heart size on those x-rays looks normal to me. Sounds like your vet was calculating vertebral heart size (VHS) which uses the vertebrae as an objective way to measure heart size. It varies a little based on source, but normal range for VHS is usually given at 8.5-10.7. It's been shown that greyhounds have a higher VHS than most other breeds. Here's the study that looked into this. From those x-rays, I'm getting a VHS of 10.8 for Jack, which is barely over the normal range even for other breeds.

 

The murmur is something to take note of, though. Has your vet ever mentioned a murmur in the past? If not, I'd suggest having another vet confirm it. Some greys can have a bit of an 'echo' due to their deep chest that vets who aren't familiar with the breed can misinterpret as a murmur. If he really does have a murmur, I'd consider having an ultrasound done to assess his heart function. But with no heart enlargement on x-rays, the murmur may not be significant at this point, but may progress as he ages.

[Guest mbfilby]

I have read that murmurs are common and usually not indicative of issues in greyhounds. HERE is a good article from the NGAP site explaining heart size and murmurs..

[MaryJane]

My angel Jake had a heart murmur and I went ahead and had an ultrasound and while I can't remember the grade of it, it turns out that it was just something that I had to start watching to make sure that he didn't start coughing or have labored breathing. Also, every year we would check to make sure that it hadn't changed.

[Guest d0ggiem0mma]

Most greys have a grade 1-2 left basilar systolic murmur. If it's graded higher than a 2 or is located somewhere else, then you should look into it. Otherwise... just a greyhound!

 

Edited to add link to paper: https://ckm.osu.edu/sitetool/sites/greyhoundpublic/documents/FAQ/MurmurGreytPaper.pdf

Edited August 5, 2011 by d0ggiem0mma

[GeorgeofNE]

Murmers are also subjective; I had one or two vets tell me my last dog had one, and four or five said he didn't! In fact one of them laughed and said, "What your dog has is one of the most powerful heartbeats I've ever heard--an athlete's heart!"

[Guest d0ggiem0mma]

Sometimes you can only hear the murmur when a dog is stressed or really amped up too, that may be why some vets heard it and some didn't. Not to mention a grade I murmur is REALLY quiet!