We took our new boxer puppy to the vets for his initial health check. He has already had his first injection with the breeder but we wanted him checked ourselves so we could get advice on worming, defleeing etc... After his check the vet said he could hear a slight heart murmour. He said it was very faint and he had to listen a few times to confirm it was. He wants to check him in a few weeks time to see whether it goes. Has anyone any experience of heart murmours in puppies??? Do they sometimes disappear??? The vet said not to worry at this stage, but i am, as our last boxer had cardiomyopathy and it was awful and im worried this is what we have in store.

It is difficult not to worry with this breed but it is an unfortunate fact that puppy will show a murmour due to the way the heart develops as it changes from a foetal blood system so the vet is correct in saying you will possibly not know for sure whether there is a problem or not just yet.  Were the parents of this puppy heart tested and what were the results as this would be your greatest reassurance at this point?

see here

http://www.boxerbreedcouncil.co.uk/handout.htm

This is the breed councils puppy handout sheet that your pups breeder should have given you
in your puppy pack.

Hope this helps

Sorry to hear your boy has a murmour. Sorry but I have never known one to disappear ever!  Maybe what he means is to see in a few weeks to what degree does he have a murmour, in a lot of dogs it doesnt affect them at all from having a normal healthy life.  Only when it is a really bad murmour does it cause major problems like what you have already experienced.  I would advise the breeder that he has a murmour as it means that the rest of the litter could also have murmours.

I am however surprised you were not told about it, as if he has had his first injection a vet should have checked the health of each puppy before giving the vaccination.  And usually on a very first visit to the vets as a puppy they are extra vigilant for any potential problems.

Emma

Cardiomyopathy is completely different to Aortic Stenosis.

http://www.boxerbreedcouncil.co.uk/as.htm
As you see Aortic stenosis affects the valve/s of the heart.

http://www.boxerbreedcouncil.co.uk/cmvetarticles.htm
http://www.boxerbreedcouncil.co.uk/cmreports.htm
Cardiomyopathy affects the electrical conduction within the heart causing the heart to beat erratically.
Eventually it affects the muscle of the heart and then eventually causes death or can be sudden death.

To see if the parents are heart tested clear of aortic stenosis you should be able to see them here
http://www.boxerbreedcouncil.co.uk/heartlist.htm

This list of heart tested clear dogs is sorted by dog or bitch and then in Alpha order of the KC registered name.

I have known people that the vets have scared witless with your puppy has a murmer only to be completely surprised when the
puppy comes back for a check up to be told not there now or it's not as serious as they thought.
I've had it myself where a puppy was graded one (which is an acceptable grade and classed as clear for breeding)
and then went on to be graded a zero as an adult. So as you can see it can and does happen.
I guess most in these cases were genuine puppy flow murmers as you can read about in the puppy handout sheet.

My grade ones have been perfectly fine and lived to the expected average age for the breed.
Also ones that have had grade two's that some friends have owned have lived perfectly normal lives.
It's only grade 3 and above that you can have problems.
To be honest if your vet doesn't specialise in cardiology you won't get a correct grading of the murmer.

Hope this helps :)

Heart Murmurs do disappear and are often found in whelps as someone else said because the whole system is immature and not finished at birth.  Only time will tell. Your vet will be able to tell you whether your puppies system has has matured satisfactorily. I hope its all okay for you both/

I have a girl who was diagnosed with a heart murmur at her 8 week check and has now "grown" out of it.

I hope your pup does the same.

Thanks everyone for your very informative replies!!! I had recontacted the vet who said that he believes the murmour might be a puppy "flow" murmur but he wants to recheck when he's a little older to make sure. He is well aware of the heartache we had with our last boxer and has said if he thought it was serious he would refer us straight away to a specialist. He has told us not to worry for the meantime!