Heart murmur

[dancerdog]

Has anyone experienced a heart murmur in their dog? We got our dog from Dogs Trust, she is 7-8. They told us she has a heart murmur, grade 1-2. Our own vet thought 2-3.

Anyway, last night, she suddenly started acting strangely, lots of frenetic behaviour, panting, heart sounding fast (but I'm obviously no vet). She looked better this afternoon when I got home but when I took her out for her walk, after her normal speed of running for the first 50 yards, she slowed her pace to walking.

She is quiet now, still eating and drinking. I will make an appointment with the vet in a day or so if she does not settle, but wondering if anyone has seen this is a dog with a heart murmur? Quite worried.

Yes, my dog had similar symptoms and he had a heart murmur. He got it aged about 8 and died age 13 1/2. The murmur didn´t get any worse until about the last year and it wasn´t what ended his life, so try not to worry too much. It doesn´t necessarily mean that her life will be shortened.

DDog1 had one. It was first diagnosed, as a grade I-II, shortly after we adopted him aged about 3 years. It got steadily worse throughout his life but it didn't cause any problems until around the time he turned 13 and was diagnosed with heart failure. He was started on medication and did really well on it for ages, dosages were increased and new medications were added to the mix as necessary. He was PTS shortly before his 15th birthday for something completely unrelated though admittedly by that point he was on borrowed time anyway as he was having all the drugs he possibly could.

Not a dog but two cats.
The first one died aged 17 of heart failure - until those last weeks his heart gave no problems and his murmur did not trouble him. He was an rescue cat.
My lovely cat at the moment, also rescued, has a murmur, I think a more serious one but I can't remember the grade. She is 7. It does not appear to cause her any problems.

Thanks for the encouraging replies! Our last lovely dog died in December, and I just found myself going straight to panic tonight, just assuming the worst immediately. I have arranged an appointment with the vet for tomorrow evening, so hopefully will get to the bottom of whatever is wrong with her. She is such a beauty.

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