Level 2 heart murmur

[familychallenge]

Hello all. Took my boy for his one year check up and boosters and vet told me he has a level 2 heart murmur. He's showing no other signs of heart disease or illness- he's generally very healthy and energetic, has a pretty active life, not overweight and has no other health problems at all. Vet advice was to monitor with regular check ups, keep him fairly lean and active and escalate if he does show any sign of illness or if it seems worse at his check ups. This seems sensible to me- doesn't seem much point doing a lot of diagnostic work at this stage when he isn't ill and it might never cause many issues, but being aware and focused on keeping him as healthy as possible seems sensible. Anyone else had this and have any different views? Am I being overly complacent?

I think you are being correct. One of my dogs had a high heart rate murmur and required medication. If your vet says your dog doesn't then that's OK. It's quite common.

What breed. That’s a significant murmur st a young age

You could watch and wait, and investigate/treat when and if symptoms arise.

You could also investigate now, so you know what is going on, how likely it is to progress, and see if there is any medication that can help (in certain breeds/diseases there are drugs that have shown to improve survival if started before symptoms appear, so it may be worthwhile; however, having examined your dog, your vet is probably the best judge of this).

The other thing to consider is insurance - if you’re on a year limited policy sometimes they will only cover for a year after the murmur is picked up, so if you wanted to investigate later in life it might not be covered.

I'm not sure about levels, but one of my cats has had a heart murmur most of her life and is 14 now with zero issues.

Incidentally, my other cat has never had a heart murmur, yet one vet told us he did, on one of his annual checkups! We got a second opinion from another vet at a different practice, and they said the vet was mistaken. So personally, I'd get a second opinion as your first port of call, just to be sure. And/or just keep on monitoring.

Haven't had this problem with my dog so far, but I'm assuming it's no different for dogs than it is for cats!

I was told the same when my pup was 9 months old. He'd seen 2 vets before who didn't pick up anything and he's seen 2 since and despite checking her heart, picked up no murmur at all.

I think some gets are a bit keen on coming up with a diagnostic of heart murmur. I think my doggy just has his heart a bit all over these because he gets so anxious when he's at the vet!

Many dogs have minor heart murmers that don't cause them any trouble whatsoever. I really wouldn't be concerned about it if your dog is otherwise fit and healthy :)

I walk several dogs who have diagnosed "murmers" and honestly you can't tell - they all act and behave totally normally and don't seem to be bothered by it in any way whatsoever!

Thank you for all the thoughts. As a first step going to speak to the vet again, to ask the questions that have occurred since, then will think about a second opinion and whether to raise with insurance. Thanks again