Mugzy is 1.3 years old. Last week, he started 'limping' on his back leg. We brought him into the vet who could not find anything wrong with his leg or a reason for him limping. She gave us some pain medication in case it happened again. While he was there, she said he had developed a grade 3 heart murmur. She told us, nothing to worry about, come back in 6 months and see... Mugzy goes running almost every morning for about 1 - 1/2 hours at the park. The other day, while running with the other dogs, he came back limping. This time, he had 'stubbed' his toe. His 'toenail' looked broken and he was limping bad. Took him back to the vets. This time (a different vet) cleaned it out and bandaged it, but told us that with his heart murmur he shouldn't be running at all. Now we are confused. One tells us, no problem, just watch him, the other says don't let him run at all. After the holidays, we are going to get the test done to detemine what the cause of the murmur is. Our biggest concern is not letting him run in the meantime. He enjoys his run IMMENSLY. After the 'toe' incident, he couldn't go for 2 days to the park and was just misearble. Also, he seemed as if he was 'depressed'. He did go for long walks, but wasn't allowed to run, not the same. Does anyone have any information about a grade 3 heart murmur they can share? Our biggest concern is letting him run and he has a heart attack?
Heart Murmur
- Thread starter tmdonn4
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TossBranAbi
Boxer Insane
Does he ever cough or act like he is out of breath? The best you could do is take him to a cardiologist and get a real diagnosis and instructions. Vets that are not heart specialist tend to vary on their diagnosis because they don't deal with heart problems everyday as a cardiologist does.
I think if it were me, I would still let him be active in the park as long as he is not coughing or acting weird but keep him under some limitations, maybe not running real hard, no extended periods of time, etc. I would think that if you did stop him completely, and the cardiologist said it it ok to be active, that it would be harder on his heart to go from no activity to activity. You are the only one who really knows how he is acting and actually doing.
I would get him to a cardiologist first thing though, that would be the first priority. Hope it isn't as bad as the last two vets have said.
I think if it were me, I would still let him be active in the park as long as he is not coughing or acting weird but keep him under some limitations, maybe not running real hard, no extended periods of time, etc. I would think that if you did stop him completely, and the cardiologist said it it ok to be active, that it would be harder on his heart to go from no activity to activity. You are the only one who really knows how he is acting and actually doing.
I would get him to a cardiologist first thing though, that would be the first priority. Hope it isn't as bad as the last two vets have said.
I'd see a cardiologist immediately. If he didn't have any kind of murmur before, "suddenly" having a grade 3 murmur is suspicious. An echocardiogram can tell you what you're dealing with. Many dogs with Gr 2 and 3 murmurs live perfectly normal life spans, but it helps to know specifically what kind of structural problem is causing them.
My personal feeling is that dogs deserve a certain quality of life, and for a boxer, especially an adolescent, being cooped up with no exercise is the equivalent of living on death row. There are worse things than death -- being able to live fully and happily (within reason) is worth shortening the life if that's what it means. (I'd probably avoid the dog park, because should he collapse, you could end up with a massive dog fight and not be able to get him out of there easily. But that doesn't mean he couldn't play in a fenced yard with friends' dogs, at daycare in small supervised groups, etc.)
Good luck. It may be nothing serious at all, and the echocardiogram could set your mind at ease.
My personal feeling is that dogs deserve a certain quality of life, and for a boxer, especially an adolescent, being cooped up with no exercise is the equivalent of living on death row. There are worse things than death -- being able to live fully and happily (within reason) is worth shortening the life if that's what it means. (I'd probably avoid the dog park, because should he collapse, you could end up with a massive dog fight and not be able to get him out of there easily. But that doesn't mean he couldn't play in a fenced yard with friends' dogs, at daycare in small supervised groups, etc.)
Good luck. It may be nothing serious at all, and the echocardiogram could set your mind at ease.
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