I thought I'd start a new thread on this one.  As said, I took my Whippet Teazel to our vet yesterday for a general health check.  She'd had a Grade 2 heart murmur identified last year, but that's now gone to a Grade 4 murmur.  Yoiks.  My vet says he'd like to do a heart scan.  I asked for a quote because unfortunately since interest rates have gone to pence a month on my Savings account now, my Savings are pretty bad, and I do mean pretty bad.  He phoned me back last evening and said a full scan would be £240. with a lesser scan ( ?) £158.  I don't understand the difference.  I asked whether he could prescribe medication for her without a scan and he told me that a scan was 'best practice' so he knew exactly what was going on. 

Now there's an added glitch with her as I'd been noticing a slight bulge in her face on the right side.  I've been able to massage it away.  He examined her and found a pocket above one of her back teeth, upper which was trapping food and other stuff and that even if the tooth there is sound, it may well need to be extracted = general anaesthetic.   Hence the worry re her heart status.  This mouth situation isn't bothering her at all, no pain and no bleeding but with trapped food that could result in infection.

She's approaching 13 now and obviously I'm worried about this latest.  Obviously I'm being guided by my vet who I trust and he does specialise in hearts (he can do the scan on site) but I'd be interested to read the opinion of others.  I know heart murmurs are a 'thing' with Whippets, but she's my first so any opinions would be welcome.

ps  Our old foundation Basset had a terrible heart by the end of her days - sounded like a washing machine slushing away but she managed for years with that.  Sadly she lost her sight at the end and as we were returning to the UK, and she'd had to have gone into quarantine with the others (pre Pet Passport), we felt it kinder to let her go before we left.  She was in her 14th year.

I probably wouldn't get the heart scan as it can't fix anything, do you really need to know exactly what's going on or can the vet just use his best judgement to prescribe an appropriate medication? Vets/doctors like to have answers, even if those answers don't really benefit the patient, and as he's a heart specialist he's probably keener than most to see exactly what's happening, but is it essential? I would argue not.

I'd use the money for a dental instead, that's likely to become an emergency at some stage and whether you know what's happening with her heart or not you're going to have to risk a GA, or let her go if she does develop an abscess which would be very sore.

It's so hard when they get older isn't it, it's all a balancing act. When my 12 year old started getting a bit stiff the vet wanted to get her in and xray her spine and back end, but what good does that do her? I don't need to know exactly what's causing her stiffness, she's on a minimal metacam dose (and yumove etc) and is much more sprightly. Sometimes we just don't need to know.

Seconding that opinion, back in 1991 my 1st Shepherd had non-functioning parathyroid causing panic attacks,I asked Vet what cause may be and his opinion was 'we can do tests, pull dog around etc but it won't change anything and will still be the same treatment' which was daily -varying qty - of Collocal D. He was still on it when we lost him to CDRM about 6½ yrs later

Vets can often misdiagnose heart murders if they are not experienced in sight hounds, due to the way the muscle  is around the heart.
We had a 15 year old whippet who went through a GA to remove a growth perfectly fine.

Thank you for your reply(ies).  When Frankie was having his problems, MRI was suggested, but at that time, the same vet said even if we went for that, then what!!   I'm of a similar opinion with Teazel and the heart scan.  I think you are deal right about him being a 'heart specialist' and wanting to play with his toys, at my expense!  I tried going down the 'can't you prescribe suitable medication, if and when needed' road.  That produced the 'best practice' comment re scanning.  Best practice for who!!

The full dental doesn't appear to be needed - he said her teeth are otherwise in good shape - it's just this pocket over one of the back teeth on that side.  I'd suggest he could whip out the tooth so the gum heals, perhaps with minimal anaesthetic?

It sure is hard as they get older, especially with a breed that I don't have the same experience with, as I did with my Bassets.

I wanted to use people here as a sounding board so thanks!

ps   I don't know how many Whippets he sees on any regular basis.   I may contact her breeder although I don't want her to think I'm getting at her re what's been found!!  She may suggest I see her vet?