Our bitch has a heart murmur
Discussion
Took our 18 month Border Terrier to the vets' for a 6 month check up and mentioned we were thinking of having a litter of pups from her. Turns out she has a murmur - 1 out of 6, with 6 being the worst.
Vet has suggested £800 of ecocardiogram but I think it's time to spey her. We'd never forgive ourselves if we bred from her and lost her or had pups which passed the problem on.
Not too happy, but glad we know; she'd be getting extra cuddles if she hadn't rolled in poo on her walk!
Vet has suggested £800 of ecocardiogram but I think it's time to spey her. We'd never forgive ourselves if we bred from her and lost her or had pups which passed the problem on.
Not too happy, but glad we know; she'd be getting extra cuddles if she hadn't rolled in poo on her walk!
Jasandjules said:
Have you spoken to her breeder?
No, hadn't thought about it, what would I say? I don't think they've sold us a duff pup - even the vet said it was hard to detect.We were planning to breed from her since she's such a good dog and we wanted to keep one (or, knowing my OH, "at least" one) of her pups, not start commercially breeding or anything like that.
The way she tore off after squirrels this morning it doesn't seem to affect her!
Just let them know there is a potential genetic issue. They should then get the stud and bi**h checked out before breeding from them again. Responsible breeders want to know about any genetic conditions in their puppies so that they can record it and take the necessary and appropriate steps.
Don't think an echocardiogramis the 1st step, get a referral to a friendly cardiologist, like what we have lol,
and see what he thinks on auscultation. 1 on a scale to 6 is tiny, so it is likely to be unimportant to future health but may be important to breeding, without expert opinion it is hard to tell. So many of my small animal vets get excited by a small heart murmur, but usually the dogs grow out of it. However, with you, your dog is unlikely to change its heart sounds with maturity, so I would recommend a specialist only listening to the heart and further investigation only if they say that it is important as opposed to interesting.
and see what he thinks on auscultation. 1 on a scale to 6 is tiny, so it is likely to be unimportant to future health but may be important to breeding, without expert opinion it is hard to tell. So many of my small animal vets get excited by a small heart murmur, but usually the dogs grow out of it. However, with you, your dog is unlikely to change its heart sounds with maturity, so I would recommend a specialist only listening to the heart and further investigation only if they say that it is important as opposed to interesting.
Thanks for the replies, much appreciated.
J&J - the breeders have had one more litter from the same parents as our girl and have decided to "retire" them so that should be that for any possibility of passing things on from them.
Thevet - will speak to our vet re cardiologist, although I think my OH is veering more and more away from the idea of breeding from Teasel.
We spent time looking at rehoming info last night; might get our girl a companion that way instead.
J&J - the breeders have had one more litter from the same parents as our girl and have decided to "retire" them so that should be that for any possibility of passing things on from them.
Thevet - will speak to our vet re cardiologist, although I think my OH is veering more and more away from the idea of breeding from Teasel.
We spent time looking at rehoming info last night; might get our girl a companion that way instead.
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