hey uk!!
bailey also has a heart murmur. his is graded as 4. hes 9 months oldnow and the only real effect ive seen it have on him is once whne he collapsed in the park after a vigouros game of footie! he also has a leaking tricuspid valve and hes now on beta blockers. 30mg in 3 doses throughout the day. hes been scanned by a specialist and had all the tests and since then hes been fine. the way he explained it to me was that grade 1-2 he can pretty much guarantee that the dog will not develop further complications, 5-6 is really bad news and anywhere inbetween is a 'gray area' it could go either way and the beta blockers are really a preventitive to him developing an irregular beat or further deterioration. his heart is enlarged due to it having had to work harder than normal and the drugs ease the workload of the heart. how old are your babies?? it is relativly 'normal' for a young boxer pup to have some degree of murmur so if they are very young you could well see it decrease in severity or even disapear. in terms of other changes that we've made since his diagnosis, there are very few. i buy low salt peanut butter and treats as i know salts bad for the heart. i recall him and rest for 5 mins every now and ahain on a long walk , and if he wants to rest while exercising (which has only happened twice!!0 then i let him. other than that, hes just a healthy happy mad boxer!! hasnt held him back one little bit so far!!! hope your babies are well!!!