Heart Murmur

[Abbigail]

I had my Abbie to vet this morning for her check up...first one since we adopted her about a month ago..the vet said she heard a grade 2 possibly 3 out of 6 heart murmur 😐she recommends having an ultrasound /echo done because it isnt common in Greyhounds ...and shes also only 3 ?? ** ...I just lost my mini dachshund to heart failure...praying this isnt bad

[XTRAWLD]

It is common in greyhounds actually. Mine has a stage 3 and has been living with it for many years now. An echo will tell you more than an ultrasound would. Keep in mind though it's not a death sentence.

 

Should be moved to Health and Medical part of the forum though.

Edited April 3, 2018 by XTRAWLD

[dante2zoe]

It is very common. But, I would post this in health and medical to reach a broader audience for this type of question.

[Remolacha]

Yes, not unusual in greyhounds, in fact if your vet is not familiar with greyhounds quirks, it could be a misdiagnosis. An ultrasound or echo will tell you for sure and my first grey, who did have heart problems, lived to 12.5 yrs.

[Houndtime]

Most of our greys have been told that they have a heart murmur. I am not so sure that it is a murmur at all, but their thickish blood circulating in their heart. I would have the test to make "you" more comfortable and want to say, not to worry.

[greysmom]

Yes. Not saying it can't happen, but greyhounds are often mis-diagnosed with a low grade heart murmur. Their hearts are twice the size of other dogs their size, so what the vet hears is actually normal movement of blood through the heart. It's just magnified so loud because of the expanded size. Or so I was told by my vet.

 

If you can afford it and your dog doesn't have any issues with sedation, you could do the echo for piece of mind, but I really wouldn't worry overly much.

[Hubcitypam]

Poodle1 had a grade 2-3 heart murmur all his life and despite his diabetes best guess is he lived to around 13-14 (he was a stray).

[krissy]

Low grade heart murmurs are common in greyhounds due to their higher red cell count (increases the viscocity of the blood), their larger heart size, and the increased power of the heart (increased velocity of blood). A murmur is just the sound of turbulent blood flow in the heart, which can happen for a variety of reasons. An ultrasound/echo will tell you specifically where the turbulence is, how bad it is, and whether there are any other more significant defects or changes to be aware of. Heart failure is uncommon in 3 yr old greyhounds but "normal" physiologic murmurs are reasonably common. My 5 yr old has had a murmur since she was a puppy. We checked it once at 7 months of age and again when she was about 3. She's an active agility dog and has had several anesthetics with no problems.

 

An echo will tell you more than an ultrasound would.

 

An echo is just what an ultrasound of the heart is called, so it's really the same thing.

[MaryJane]

Two of my greyhounds had this and with one, I went ahead and had the echo (didn't need sedation as the dog was relatively calm) and it was functional - I didn't have to do anything. With the other greyhound, it was there sometimes and not other times. I didn't bother to pursue it further. It seems a pretty common indication in greyhounds and as noted, their hearts are much larger with more blood volume going through and that is likely what is causing the sound. Neither of the dogs that had the "murmur" developed heart issues later.

[XTRAWLD]

An echo is just what an ultrasound of the heart is called, so it's really the same thing.

Really?!?!?! Hmmm, then it might be more expensive because a specialist needs to do it since it might be more difficult to perform than an ultrasound on the organs like liver/kidneys? My vet does ultrasounds, but won't do an echo!

[cleptogrey]

There are some cont. Ed classes for vets. Try a Google search for cont ed, certification echo cardigrahm for vets. My dogs have participated numerous times,the classes always need volunteers.

[krissy]

Really?!?!?! Hmmm, then it might be more expensive because a specialist needs to do it since it might be more difficult to perform than an ultrasound on the organs like liver/kidneys? My vet does ultrasounds, but won't do an echo!

 

Some will, some won't. It's different and you need to do enough of them to get comfortable/proficient, and generally you just don't get as many of those cases as you do abdominal. We have a vet at our clinic that will do echos. The ultrasonographer I used to call in at my previous clinic would do them too. We also have access to a cardiologist to do them but boy is she hard to get a hold of... always so busy.