We took our new puppy to the vets for her first injections and the vet discovered the she had a heart murmur. We are a bit concerned as to wether it will shorten her life span or affect her in her future. At the minute she is eating, very active and growing well. Has anyone been in the same postion and can offer some advice or knowledge about this.
thanks
k.louise

Kim, heart murmurs are quite common in puppies and vets often don't mention them because so many are harmless. What did your vet say about the murmur? Did he mention what grade it is? Or have any idea as to the cause? What breed is your puppy?

Its a english bull terrier. The vet suggested getting a ultra scan done to check how bad it was. He also suggested we give her back to her breeder but weve become attacted to her over the month weve had her.

Hi Kim, EBTs can have congenital mitral valve disease and sub-aortic stenosis, but I don't know how frequent they are or at what age they usually show up. Hopefully someone who knows more about EBTs will be along soon. As Barbara (brainless) says however, many puppy murmurs are not significant. As your vet is suggesting further tests and even giving the pup back it could be that (s)he thinks she has one of these conditions, or it could be that (s)he is just very cautious and if I were you I'd ask the vet which it is before going further.

In a very young puppy a heart murmer may resolve, as part of tyhe maturing process. At birth certain valves close to redirect the blood flow, and this can sometimes take longer to complete.

A friend also has a Doberman bitch who is now 12 1/2, and she has had a heart murmer all her life, but a slight one. She has had very regular excersise until the last year. Unfortunately she is full of cancedr, and has arthritis, but still goes for a very short walk twice a day, as it is what she enjoys.

A pup I sold at 8 weekis was thought to have a murmer, but by 10 weeks there was no sign, and it was given the all clear at 6 months, but our breed does no9t have heart problems generally. What breed is your puppy??

She is a english bull terrier.

RE Heart Murmurs, Boxers can be prone to heart murmurs, however
I would like to quote from the handout sheet for new puppy owners.
"It should be stressed that minor flow murmurs are commonly found in young Boxer puppies, as in other breeds, but most disappear by about 16 weeks of age. Even if they persist there may be no cause for alarm if they are quiet. Such genuine flow murmurs are not associated with heart disease in the adult".

I hope that this puts your mind at rest. There are vets that do specialise in Cardiology, if you are worried and the puppy is older than 16 weeks old go to the specialist and see what they say. Doppler echocardiography is what they advise for Boxers with loud murmurs.

Kindest Regards
Kirstine

Hi Kim,

One of my dogs has a heart murmur - he is 5 now and very healthy, the vet said it may shorten his life by a year or two. A heart murmur was also detected in 3 of my pups last year at 8 weeks old, I was told it is quite normal - i informed the new potential buyers of the pups about the condition but they were happy to still have the pups, now, a year later, there is no trace of a heart murmer in the pups (by the way, my boy mentioned above was not the stud dog - he has been neutered)

Donna

Kym
I owned a C. King Charles spaniel when I was 16. He died at the age of 13 and he had a heart murmour all his life. He did not die because of his heart murmour.
I would not worry about it as others have said. Quite often they can repair themselves.
Nutkin

Thanks to everyone who replied to my message your comments really helped. I am taking our puppy to the vets on thursday week to have a consultation to find out if he recommends a scan being done of her heart to find out how bad it is or if he thinks its only slight and will sort itself out. Will let you all know what happens.

Kim, if you type 'heart murmurs' into the search facility at the top of the forum page, it will bring up a few previous threads on this subject that may be of interest :-)

My standard poodle Tara was also diagnosed with a heart murmer at her first check up aged nine weeks ,she is now twelve and apart from dietary problems she has led a full and active life.