I've read a few posts about heart murmurs but I need more information:

We've been waiting for our doberman puppy for about 4 months, she was born on Oct. 15th at 6 weeks she went to the breeder's local vet for her shots and the Vet detected a grade III heart murmur.  We live in a country were the dogs ears are allowed to be cropped and her's were going to be but the vet performing the surgery also detected a grade III heart murmur; therefore, considered it a risk and didn't perform the surgury.  So now if we decide to keep this puppy she will have natural ears, but we don't want a sick dog or one with a medial condition that could get worst - is this what I would be getting?

How many Doberman puppies get better from a murmur?
The breeder said that if she grows out of the murmur by 16 weeks she could still have it done but another breeder said it was unlikely because it's a grade III - is that true?
Is a heart murmur considered a cardio problem?  - cardiomyopathy?

If we don't keep this dog, the next available litter will be June 2004, that means we wouldn't another until maybe Auguest, a year and a month after we were first put on the list. - so it's a hard call.

A couple of things here.
1. How much does ear cropping really mean to you?
2. What happens to the puppy if you do not have her?

As far as Cardiomyopathy is concerned, specialist tests would need to be carried out to determine the severity of the problem.  Grade 3 is mid-way, I do know of a Dobe with a grade 4 murmur that is now 7yrs old an has always been 100% and has had no problems at all.
Dawn.

Cardiomyopathy is not the same as a heart murmur.
A murmur is a heart sound. To be honest it's not all that unusual to have a puppy diagnosed with a murmur. It's something that they very often grow out of. The murmur is caused by a 'kink' in the main artery leaving the heart and as the puppy grows, the 'kink' straightens out and the murmur is no longer detectable.
Dawn R.

I am sorry to hear about your potential pup's problems.

I don't yet know much about heart murmers but cardiomyopathy literally means heart disease :-
cardio - heart
myo - muscle
patho - disease

The disease that many Dobermanns suffer from is Dilated Cardiomypathy which is very different to a heart murmur (and I will take this opportunity to mention that if any Dobermann owners in the UK are interested there is a screening programme being set up and you can register your Dobe for it, contact me for more details).

The best person to speak to would probably be your vet or a canine cardiologist in your country, on boards like this we can offer information and personal experience but they can give you the facts and probable outcome/problems associated with heart murmers.

If they are going to operate it is also useful to know the vWD status prior to cropping

Christine