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Heart murmur in my 7 year old girl

1K views 4 replies 3 participants last post by  Gunny 
#1 ·
I'm just trying to find out information from other owners who've had a dog develop a heart murmur at middle age. We have an appointment with a vet cardiologist in 2 weeks, but that seems like forever now. Her vet diagnosed her at stage 2-3 last week. When she got her annual check at end of July with same vet, she was fine. He's a very thorough vet who listens carefully every time. How could this develop so fast?? From what I've read, the future isn't good - maybe 12- 18 months. However, the article was older - 2010 - from Tufts Vet School.


I'm heartbroken, especially since I checked out breeders carefully for about 1.5 years just to find a pup from good, healthy stock.


She had pretty extensive blood work about 3-4 weeks ago and all that came back good. The blood work was because she's on Apoquel for allergies and she also gets oral allergy vaccine - She sees a canine dermatologist who swears the heart condition could not be related to the Apoquel.


If anyone has any experience with heart issues in midde-aged or older dogs, please, please share your thoughts/experiences.


Thanks so much in advance!
 
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#3 ·
Reponse

Thank you so much!! She's my gal, so I really don't want to lose her so soon. I lost my heart dog - another golden -at 7 due to lymphoma, and I'll miss her to the day I die. I have another golden who's 11+ years and going strong - she was a retired breeder dog and I had her mother as well, who we lost at 11 due to cancer. I'm always prepared to lose a dog when they reach double digits, but 7 is just way to early to say good-bye!! I've had 10 dogs over my lifetime, all large working or sporting dogs, but only recently have I lost any at middle-age. Others all went to 13-16.5 yrs. old (The English Shepherd was the senior gal - never sick a day in her long life!)

Thanks again for taking time to respond
 
#4 ·
When I adopted Patsy, an 11 year old standard poodle cross, she had a grade 3 murmur. She was put on furosemide, (Lasix), a diuretic which has been around for ages as hers was caused by congestive heart failure. She did beautifully until she also developed laryngeal paralysis when she was 14. The point of this post is that the outcome depends on what is causing the murmur. Please don't panic yet!
Good luck at the cardiologist.
 
#5 ·
Sorry for the loss of your gal - it's never, ever easy despite how long they may live.


I'll be glad to get the appointment . My biggest concern is that she's still only middle aged, but my primary vet has been pretty reassuring.


Thanks for your encouragement - I so appreciate it!
 
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