Grade 3 heart murmur?

[Mrs. Jingle]

Some of you may have read my thread about hoping to give a home to an older terrier rescue to hopefully settle in with my two middle aged Labrador bitches.

I have been offered a very quiet and loving 8 year old terrier with a grade 3 heart murmur. While I am not at all against adopting a little dog with some medical issues, the grade 3 does worry me slightly.

Can anyone give me an idea of how serious this might be and would the little mutt be likely to keel over the first time my labs does their silly zoomie chase me game in and out of every room in the house?

Any insights would be very helpful, I shall get more details later today.

 

[satinbaze]

My cavalier developed a heart murmur at 7 and was not on any medication until she was 10, can’t remember the grade at this point. Once on medication she was fine until 13 1/2 years old when she needed dieuretics added. She lived a full and active life until she was 14. I was very aware to keep her slim and fit

 

[Aru]

It'll depend on a few things.

Murmurs are sounds of abnormal blood flow within the heart. They are graded 1 to 5. The grade tells the level of the noise, but isn't always a perfect indiction of how serious the issue is. -that said the louder murmurs are a signs of more turbulence and noise and are a warning.

In the older ages they are more likley to be due to heart valve related issues in a small dog- leaking mitral valves in cavvies being very common. They tend be a warming that you have an issue - often a leak. The heart is a pump. That pump may start to back up due to the leaking valve negatively affecting the pumping abilty of the heart, left side that affects circulation into the lungs and causes coughing when they start to cause trouble, but right sided issues can also occur and those affect the liver and belly if the blood is the system starts backing up. They tend to show more exercise intolacne, swollen bellies. If they have a left sided murmur-its usually mirtal valve issues and some can take a v v long time if ever to become an issues. But more information beyond a murmur being present is really needed to know how likely it is to become an issue.

Is the dog showing any of the other signs of heart issues? intermittant cough,exercise intolerance? it is new or has it been present all his life ( born with and still unaffected by 7 is less of a concern then a new leak) The noise is just one symptom you need more information into the cause and location of the abnormal noise to get an idea of likley causes.

 

[Mrs. Jingle]

Thank you very much Aru for such an informative reply. Just the sort of thing I need to know before seriously considering this little dog.

More tests including a heart echo are being done early this week so that should hopefully provide more information for both the rescue and for me.

The dog is a stray recently come in so they have very little backstory unfortunately. Though I am more than happy to take in an older terrier with some health issues I am not sure if I could cope with losing one very quickly after already having a rather traumatic couple of years here with one thing and another.

I shall update when he has had further investigation. Thanks again.

 

[SkylarkAscending]

Grade 3 wouldn’t bother me at all - having been brought up with cavaliers, that’s relatively minor

 

[splashgirl45]

My lurcher wascdiagnised with a grade 4 heart murmer, it didn’t slow her down at all. I lost her due to hip arthritis just before her 13th birthday , nothing to do with her heart

 

[misst]

No advice but pleased there are digs out there for you Mrs. J. Whether it's this one or another little terror xx