Just over a month ago Lottie was at the Vets for her 6-monthly check-up. The Vet discovered a heart murmur and recommended an x-ray to see if her heart was enlarged. She's had the x-ray and that looks fine but obviously the murmur is still there and I'm not sure where to go next. My Vet has a cardiology specialist that comes to visit the surgery and says I could take her in and get his expert opinion, which would involve ECGs and various other forms of monitoring/scans etc (at a cost of £400 - she's no longer insured :( ). I know in her lines there are dogs that have died at a young age from DCM and in fact one of her son's dropped dead about 7 weeks ago, aged 7 (probably DCM). My own Vet estimated it at Grade 3, but he's not a cardiac specialist. Apart from being a little slower at the end of a walk, she's not showing any symptoms, and at 10 I'd expect her to slow down a bit anyway. Should I just monitor the situation or get the investigations underway? The Vet did say that there isn't much that could be done anyway, so I'm not sure there's much point in spending £400.......

Personally at that age I would leave well alone.

If she is reaching her life expectancy then I would deal with the symptoms, if there is no cure on offer it is alot of money to pay out just to be told the same by a speciallist.

I had one Golden with DCM, he lived for another 3 years (until 11) after he started showing serious symptoms and needed medication, then one Cavalier with MVD who lived for another 7 years (until 15) on tablets also after showing symptoms (he was grade 6) -neither ever saw a cardiologist. I once saw a cardiologist for a cat with HCM, cost £400 and it made no difference to anythign, the cat lived until 12 without any medication or any treatment of any sort. A grade 3 I would not worry about personally. I'd only see a cardiologist if it was to ascertain what heart problem it was, if it was genetic, could be in my lines etc (hence the cat's visit) -otherwise I'd trust my normal vet.

If it were me, I'd probably want an echo done just to see exactly what's going on (as x-ray can't show you movement or heart beats etc) but that won't cost £400 - Paige is booked in for hers (she was equivocal for DCM 2 years ago so we need an update) next month and it's going to cost me around £80.  Her heart isn't covered either so I sympathise with the cost worries.  She's not going to a specialist though, just my normal vet whose speciality is cardiology, if that makes sense.

It *might* be worth having a holter test done but tbh I probably wouldn't - Soli had several and all were fine but she still suffered sudden death, only weeks after the last one so I don't put too much stock in them really.

I get the life expectancy argument but at the same time, without DCM Soli would have gone on for years - she was fighting fit in every other way and lived well beyond everyone's expectations, I never treated her as anything other than a young dobe.  Same with Paige who is now 8, she's every inch a youngster!

My dog is 12yrs 8months and has just been diagnosed with grade 5 heart murmur. She couldn't have the x-ray because she was too poorly at the time.

She has been on vetmedin for a few weeks now and although we don't walk anywhere near as far as we did, she enjoys her morning walk.

I can't believe that she is still with me.   Personally I would leave well alone.  Maybe ask the vet if medication is needed .

I lost one about 2 1/2 yrs ago to chv and it wasn't nice to see her suffer even for a short time. She was 2months short of 11yrs.

I have posted on here about my little dog. She went from a mild heart murmur to grade 5 in a matter of weeks.

I am just going to enjoy the time I have left with her (which I hope will be a while yet)  Good luck to you also . 

I think I'm just going to let her live her life. My Vet has said no medication is needed at the moment, so I think we'll just monitor the situation and confront a problem as and when it happens.

Thanks for all your comments, much appreciated. x

I would definitely go for an echodoppler and see exactly what the problem is. There are many heart conditions which respond very well to medication but you need to know what is wrong to give the correct medication. Many dogs live for years after diagnosis of a heart condition but I do believe that you need a cardiologist to give an accurate diagnosis.  Hopefully yours will too.

I do think that is a bit steep costwise.  My own vet detected a heart murmer last year on one of my middle aged boys.  I think my vet is the bees knees, but he asked me to bring him in for a scan and see one of the vets that is quite expert in the field.  I thought that, as it's her speciality, I would probably be paying out bigtime.  None of mine are insured.  She phoned me to discuss, was more than happy to answer all my questions, and it cost me just over £100.

Aaahh!  G.Rets.  Yes, that  was it.  Echodoppler, couldn't remember what it was called!  Thank you.