[JuneBugs Momma]

Originally Posted by Britster

I am kind of in the same boat.

So went to the vet for check-up and rabies vaccine a few months ago now. Vet (whom we looovee) asks me if he has ever been diagnosed with a murmur before. I said NO and had a mini panic attack. Jax is 8 and active and healthy, no symptoms of anything. He runs like crazy, he swims, yada yada. Same thing you said though -- Jax is VERY anxious at the vets and pants heavily, etc, so it can be hard to even listen to his heart. She said it was very faint, if anything. Just wanted to make me aware. She told me to come back in about a month just to see if she could still hear it. She told me she did not hear it the 2nd time but that it didn't mean he *doesn't* have one. She basically told me not to panic right now and it could very well be nothing but it's not abnormal as dogs get older and many small breeds are prone to heart murmurs and can leave healthy happy long lives with them. She did not grade it for me.

Basically, my options were 1. ) get an x-ray... but that would only show if the heart was enlarged. Wouldn't show what's really going on inside. 2). go to the cardiologist and get an echo which will run me somewhere in the vicinity of $800 3.) they have a human sonographer who comes into their office once a month and can do ultrasounds but I would have to drop him off for the day (which he would HATE and be entirely too stressed) and then they send the results off to a canine cardiologist to be reviewed, and it'd be half the cost.

I have not yet done anything yet because he's asymptomatic however I'd like to have a definitive answer one way or another and I'm leaning towards just choking up the $$$ and going to a specialist for the echo. It would be a fairly quick appointment, I'd be with him the whole time and get answers right away. He wouldn't have to be stressed as long. I'd rather KNOW now in case there *is* something wrong and catch it early in case he needs medication etc either now or in the future. ALSO, he needs a dental cleaning and even though the vet assured me they have very heart-friendly procedure policies and she has put many dogs under anesthesia with heart murmurs... but I think for my own peace of mind, I'd prefer to know how his heart is prior to a dental, so that will be first on our list.

So basically, I may be going extreme but I've decided this is the route I am going to take and will be making an appt. in the next few weeks here.

How did you make out?