Heart mur mur in 6 wk old

[Sade's Mommy]

I'm about to get new puppy but just found out she has the lowest grade heart mur mur would like to know if she would out grow it or what .Any advise would help really would like to get her but afraid



Darla (Sade'ss mommy)

 

[gmacleod]

While there are never any guarantees with this sort of thing, a great many puppies DO outgrow low grade heart murmers A lot of young pups are wrongly diagnosed with heart murmers by non-specialist vets too.

Personally, I'd be inclined to see about having specialist check her out. You'd get a better idea that way, or at least an opinion you should be able to rely on, on whether its likely to be the innocent sort that she'll outgrow or whether there is a real problem. Good luck

 

[Melgoglia]

When we first got Abigail she to was diagonised with a heart murmur. Our vet gave us a few choices either to take her back ..yea right... give it a few weeks & bring her back to be rechecked or go to a specialist. We chose to wait and bring her back a few weeks later.

Well when we did it was gone! Completely gone.. I started crying ... we had lost Brandy she was 7.5 years old earlier this year and it was really hard on me and I wasn't prepared to go through that again. But the murmur was gone.. each time she goes to the vet they check and so far no problems. Most I have read go away on their own.. hopefully yours will go away too!

I did call the breeders Abigail came from when we found out she had it and they agreed for us to wait until the next vet visit and if there was still a problem or it had gotten worse they would take her back. Everything worked out for us and I'm proud to say she is now 6 months and still no problems except she is nuts..

Hope this helps

 

[Sade's Mommy]

heart mur mur

Just found out that it's a grade 2 systlois heart mur mur. W hat I need to know if they can get worse and die from them or could they lead a normal life, does anyone else have a puppy with this problem and how is it going? any advise would help



Thanks Darla
(Sade's Mommy)

 

[kassa]

She's 6 weeks old? Who is hearing this murmur? I assume you're not taking her for another 10-14 days, so that should be time to work out with the breeder a plan of action.

I understand you don't want to not get the puppy until it's 16 weeks old the age by which most innocent puppy murmurs are gone). Nor will you (or the breeder) want to spend a lot of money on testing for a condition that might not exist anyway if you only gave it a month.

Are you near a board certified veterinary cardiologist? You might contact one and try to get an appointment for an auscultation at the 8 week mark (when you'd be taking the puppy). A board certified cardiologist will be better able to distinguish a grade I from a grade II (or III). An echocardiogram will provide the most information, but would also be a few hundred dollars, and not something I'd recommend before 16 weeks (unless it was a Gr III or higher)

If there are no cardiologists nearby, ask the nearest vet school for recommendations for a skilled internist/auscultator (this isn't a specialty, but just the skill of listening to heart sounds and ranking them). Heart sounds can be very subtle things -- training and practice will account for a lot of the skill, but some internists will have the skill even if they're not cardiologists. Some internists may have an extra skill at setting bones, some might have very good ears.

Even if the murmur has not disappeared by 16 weeks, Gr I and II murmurs don't generally indicate any problems that would cause issues for the dog itself in its lifetime. Breeding it would be questionable and dependent on future testing, but if the pup is meant to be a pet, you could take it home, neuter it and be reasonably confident that it will live a long, healthy life.

A Grade II/III murmur (as defined by a cardiologist) in such a young puppy would (to my mind) indicate the necessity of an echocardiogram to determine what's going on, and if it's anything that might progress.

 

[Hannah'sMom]

I agree that you should get this pup to a cardiologist. Especially if the vet believes they are hearing a grade 2 murmur at this age. My Hannah had an innocent murmur at 8 weeks, a grade 1-2 at 12 weeks and a grade 4 at 18 weeks. After seeing a cardiologist we know she has subvalvular aortic stenosis (SAS) on the mild side of severe. She is going to be re-evaluated in October to see if there is anything more we can do. She is also taking Ateno once per day to keep her blood pressure down.

For now we are giving her all the love she can handle and she is getting into all the trouble that a 6 month old boxer girl can.

 

[adeinert]

The reputable breeders in Florida will have contact with a board certified cardiologist. The breeder may want to have this checked out before she leaves anyway since reputable breeders are very concerned about the health traits of their lines and may be part of the wording in her health guarantee.

Ashlie
happy boxer mommy to three Florida Boxer Rescue babies
www.flbr.org

 

[Sam S]

I would be very wary of who is giving you this information at 6 weeks.

Most vets don't really know what they are listening for so if you are concerned I would get your puppy checked out by a specialist.

We were told Ali had a grade 1 heart murmur at about 16 weeks & then at 12 months nothing.

BTW I have known a boxer with a Grade 5 heart murmur to live a full active life to 11.

 

[Sade's Mommy]

Puppy

I have decided to walk away from puppy with heart mur mur only because vet told me it could get worse and there vet suggested for me to chose another puppy so there was more to then they were saying don't want to loss another boxer it is to hard. So I'm back to looking again the right one will come along. And with frances comming toward us do'nt want puppy to go thru one to young