Heart murmur

[toffeeman]

Hello,

my BC, now 8 years old, was diagnosed with a heart murmur about a year ago and prescribed Fortekor. She is still very active and willing to go on walks and play etc but, when excited, starts coughing and I have heard her coughing during the night. Her heart sounds are very loud and audible to the naked ear too sometimes, usually in the evening. I would be grateful to hear other people's experiences of their BCs and their heart murmurs as I'm afraid of losing her but don't want her to suffer.

 

Thanks,

RM

[juliepoudrier]

Have you had her back to the vet for a recheck? I have an 11.5 year old with a serious murmur and a slightly enlarged heart. She is on both Enalapril, which is an ACE inhibitor that works to lower blood pressure, and furosemide, which is a diuretic and helps to keep fluid from building up around her heart. Fortekor is also an ACE inhibitor, from what I quickly Googled. Is your dog also on a diuretic? Willow's only obvious symptom was a heart murmur, but on X-ray we could see that her heart was slightly enlarged and that there was not yet any fluid build-up (this was maybe 6 months or so ago). The good news, according to my vet, is that the sooner you start them on heart meds, the greater longevity they should have. The bad news is that I would guess if your girl is coughing she has some fluid build-up or her heart has enlarged to the point where it's impinging on her airways. A vet check could tell you what's going on, and the vet might be able to give you additional treatments to make her more comfortable and slow the progress of her heart disease. So I think your first step is to get her back to the vet for a check up.

 

J.

[MaggieDog]

My youngest girl has a heart murmur the vet detected at her first annual exam (at around 18 months - she's a rescue). In our case the vet said it was a very minor one and shouldn't impact her physical abilities or activities at all. Ziva does Search and Rescue, agility, and demos for my training classes and she never misses a beat. For us, the heart murmur isn't an issue at all.

 

Our vet did say to watch her for coughing or decreased endurance as those could be signs that the murmur is worsening, though she thought it very unlikely that this would occur.

[juliepoudrier]

Erin,

I think a young dog with a slight murmur isn't likely something to worry about. An older dog with a severe enough murmur to be put on heart meds and to be coughing when active is a whole different story. My vet said that eventually, despite the treatments we're giving Willow, her heart would continue to enlarge and she would begin to cough, etc. I hope Ziva never gets to that point, but of course the OP's dog is already there. Willow's murmur is severe enough (4+ on a scale of 5 I think) that she is not a good candidate for anesthesia and surgery. The murmur itself was noted a year ago when she had a tumor removed from her leg, but it wasn't until we followed up 6 months later (this summer) that we found the enlargement. Interestingly, no vet ever reported a murmur to me prior to preparation for surgery last year, so I don't know if she was a case of progressing from something slight or if she just developed a problem as she aged.

 

J.

[Liz P]

Hello,

my BC, now 8 years old, was diagnosed with a heart murmur about a year ago and prescribed Fortekor. She is still very active and willing to go on walks and play etc but, when excited, starts coughing and I have heard her coughing during the night. Her heart sounds are very loud and audible to the naked ear too sometimes, usually in the evening. I would be grateful to hear other people's experiences of their BCs and their heart murmurs as I'm afraid of losing her but don't want her to suffer.

 

Thanks,

RM

 

It sounds like your dog is probably already in congestive heart failure. Please see a vet right away. There are drugs that can potentially make her feel a lot better.

[jrid]

My oldest Border Collie "Five", turned 13 Christmas week and immediately got old. I took her to the vet that week to have a old dog blood panel done and found out she has a whopping heart murmur. All the blood work came back good, but the vet suggested I have an EKG done on her so she is having that done tomorrow. I have noticed that she breathes like she has been running when she just gets up and moves to another spot to lie down. She also seems to gulp and swallow alot like she can't catch her breath. She does not cough. When she seems to be having difficulty breathing, I can feel her heart pounding like it is going to come right out of her chest. Hopefully the vet will prescribe a miracle drug and she will feel better.

 

The good news is that she still wants to run around and boss the other dogs. I guess she will be snarky until the day she dies

[KrisK]

Jrid - sorry to hear about your senior BC - I don't know if Vetmedin is available in the US but my little schnauzer has been on it for almost 4 years. The vets are still amazed that he's still with us - that's how bad his heart murmur is. It does seem to be a 'miracle' drug for many dogs.

[Dal & Mad's Mom]

ace inhibitors cause a cough in some humans I wonder if it could also be the same with dogs. I'd check with your vet no matter what better safe than sorry.

[BCjetta]

Ideally what you'd do is have the heart ultrasounded and chest x-rayed to see what the problem is exactly. They can tell if its leaky valves, if its dilated cardiomyopathy, if the heart is enlarged or normal, if there is fluid around it, masses on/in it etc, etc. The vets I work for highly recommend heart ultrasounds before putting dogs on heart medications because certain medications are contraindicated for certain heart conditions. Fortekor is a pretty safe one but depending on what the problem is, there may be other drugs that would benefit the dog in addition to that.

My 10 year old BC developed a heart murmur over the past year. I ultrasounded it right away and she has mitral valve regurgitation but its not bad. The vet felt medications at this point would have no obvious benefit because she's showing no signs of heart problems so I'm just waiting on it for now and will recheck it at a later date. My oldest dog (14) and my cat (9) also both have heart murmurs and mitral valve regurgitation and are also not on medications at this point. The 14yr old has had the leaky valve for the past 3 or so years and it hasn't really gotten much worse over that time (its been ultrasounded every year).

On a similar topic...we recently saw a 6yr old pittie/heeler type mix with breathing problems. The owner said her previous vet told her the dog had a heart murmur from when it was about 6 months old and not to worry about it because the dog was young and seemed healthy and active. Well, we ultrasounded it and turns out the dog had dilated cardiomyopathy (probably from a young age) and the heart was barely working anymore. It had compensated for as long as it could and then she went downhill fast (which is when the owner noticed the coughing and heavy breathing). We bought her almost a month with medications (vetmedin, fortekor and furosemide) but the heart was so bad to start with, it didn't do much. That is part of the reason our vets recommend heart ultrasounds when they hear a murmur - might as well look and be safe rather than not look and be sorry.

[juliepoudrier]

Hmmmm....we did the X-ray but no ultrasound because my vet felt on viewing the X-ray that we wouldn't gain anything more at this time from an ultrasound (not to mention that US isn't always readily available without having to travel some distance). He did say that if we noticed changes on down the line, the next step would be an ultrasound. I tend to agree with him on this. It seems that the majority of heart murmurs are the result of mitral valve issues, at least in older dogs, so if you are willing to play the odds, then it's unlikely you're going to go wrong. Of course it helps if you're going to do something like this (not to US off the bat) if the owner is quite observant and does appropriate follow ups with the vet. While generally I am in the "better safe than sorry" camp, I also take into consideration the age of the animal and current/future quality of life and my own financial situation.

 

J.

[Sdstrbr]

Not sure if it's just general protocol but my older Chi girl developed a grade 5 murmur seemingly overnight. She was completely asymptomatic til she just fainted one day. Emergency exam, x-ray, EKG, EEG, IV lasix, ultra-sound, and $3k bill in (get this) Cardiac Care, what a frightening experience. She is now on Lasix (furosemide) and Benazepril (BP meds?) and doing phenomenally! I know one day it will just be over, but for now, she's doing great. You can hear that swooshing thump in her chest a mile away, but she's alive and happy..... And as long as that's the case, we'll continue to give her the meds to keep the heart from enlarging and the fluid from backing up in her lungs, and adjust as needed. It is still the low initial doses, and her kidney/liver values are good (something that is of concern with some of these meds) so we will hold on as long as we can.

 

Our older male has had a grade 2 murmur for years and never any issues, but the vet is x-raying him tomorrow to see if he's at all enlarged in anticipation of teeth-cleaning. As a rescue who has only about 4 teeth left, Doc is considering pre-emptive strike with the same meds, to keep the CHF from developing and exacerbating the murmur/fluids. If it works for one, I hope it will keep my boy out of danger..... I normally subscribe to the 'If it ain't broke.....' theory, but I'm pretty scared of this diagnosis...... Hope your treatments are working out for all of you with compromised hearts..... it's flippin' scary.