Gallop Heart Rhythm

[Guest happygrey]

Is anyone familiar with this condition/observation?

 

Today I had to take Bentley to the vet because we thought he might have a UTI (he peed in the house yesterday right in front of us and woke us up to go out at night) and the vet noted that he had a gallop heart rhythm which has never been present before.

 

He had a complete blood panel done, along with heartworm and lyme tests and a urinalysis. (Dipstick did not show any blood.)

 

He also has a fever of 103.3 - which is high for him, she said, but not super high.

 

Our little bundle of energy, Mr B, is only 4! He's too young for heart disease, right?

Edited October 18, 2012 by happygrey

[vjgrey]

Greyhounds are commonly misdiagnosed with heart murmurs because of the way their hearts are built, although if she's hearing something she's never heard before, that may be something outside of "greyhound normal."

 

Lucy was diagnosed with a low-level heart murmur earlier this year, when she was four. We went back for a second appointment with our regular vet JUST to see if she heard it again (she did) and then had it confirmed through an EKG by a cardiologist with greyhound experience. Fortunately, right now, it doesn't really affect her life at all. It's not severe enough to need meds, so we just give her fish oil and go for checkups every six months.

 

You might see if your vet wants to see Bentley again in a few weeks to see if it's just a fluke (sometimes nerves/shaking can cause odd sounds) or something she hears again - in which case it probably needs to be checked out by a specialist.

[MP_the4pack]

Pearl was diagnosed with heart disease at age 5. She died of cancer at age 12!

 

But I would take him to a cardiologist to rule out 'normal greyhound murmur'.

[Charlies_Dad]

Yes. Our Jack had this and unfortunately passed away this summer at 8.5 from heart failure. He was diagnosed in the Fall with CHF (or close to it) and was hospitalized for one night as we wanted him stabilized. The next day he looked great and we brought him home with a variety of meds. Over the next six months we have two more Cardio appointments and the very last one was in May with a decent outlook and another med to get his heart rate normalized (it was beating fast, and strangely, not a 'beat-beat' but rather a 'beat-beat-beat', 'beat-beat', 'beat-beat-beat-beat'). Then one night after he had an 'episode' outside and we took him to our local vet who checked his heart and personally felt there was not a lot more we could do and that his lifespan would be short. He died in my arms suddenty 3 weeks later.

 

I would definitely see a Cardiologist as while a lot of Greys have murmurs and large hearts, it's best to have it checked out because I am guilt ridden over not getting Jack to the Cardio before I did (our local vet had stated his heart was large and I took it as, well that's normal).

[Guest happygrey]

Thanks everyone for the feedback. I did not know that greyhounds were commonly misdiagnosed with murmurs.

 

However, this vet has seen him several times, and he was at the vet we used previously a large number of times and this was never noticed. It seems like something completely new.

 

We will definitely be following up on the whole situation as we don't know what's wrong with him and clearly with a fever something is. Also, for him to be peeing in the house something is very wrong. He has had a history UTI's and mystery UTI-like episodes.

 

She said it would be rare that he'd have an infection around his heart but it was something that could be leading to the fever and abnormal rhythm.