Heart murmur in older dog

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be positive

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My 15 year old collie has been a bit wobbly on her backs legs recently so went to vets yesterday, vet detected a heart murmur and as expected some weakness in hind legs probably some arthritis associated with her age, she is on metacam and yumove but today has been worse and I am guessing it could well be the heart is worse than the arthritis and that is the reason she is wobbly not the legs as such.

Questions before I get back to vets as it is something I have no idea about, will they be able to treat without a battery of tests? how effective is treatment and will it give better quality of life not just prolong it, anything else from experience that may help me make the right choice for Spring, a few vibes would be welcome.
 
My 13 year Daxi had a murmur, he had xrays and ultrasound and was then prescribed Vetmedin. The vet initially warned that his life expectancy would be 6-12 months but we had another 2 years and he died due to something unrelated. He did also get fluid on lungs and have to take diuretics which unfortunately meant he was no longer dry overnight but in a little dog that was easy to manage. He had a very good happy 2 years. Good luck with your dog.
 
Not sure it’s worth trying to treat a heart murmur at his age? My springer had a grade 4, pretty serious, but wasn’t affected at all and never had treatment. Obviously follow your vet’s advice, but at the age he is and if he’s coping ok, I’d be wondering if there’s a point.
 
I have spoken to the vet as she collapsed a couple of times today, it is a bit guesswork as I don't want to put her through extensive tests only to end up having to pts but whatever it is has come on really quickly, she had slowed down a bit but was pottering around the yard and fields each day, she had a few tumbles that I thought were due to her brain still being more active than her legs could cope with on turns or in long grass, today she fell down for no obvious reason, I just missed seeing it happen, I found her lying there, happy to get up and come in with me but more reluctant to go far almost as if she knows she needs to be near her safe place, I am monitoring over the weekend and she will start on treatment when it comes in on Monday unless I need to take her in before then.
She is eating very well, looks bright enough, reacts to everyone normally so I am reluctant to make a decision without trying treatment for a few days to see if she does respond, if it is something else we have not considered I will at least feel I have given her the best chance without putting her through any extra trauma.
 
I don’t like to be doom and gloom but this sounds exactly same as my dog. had arthritis and was on painkillers which lead to his kidneys becoming a bit rubbish - his heart murmur got significantly worse and we tried heart meds for a two weeks and vet said they will either help him or he will go down hill extremely fast. He was booked in to be pts after one week due to how bad he got. He too had collapsed Twice before we stared the meds and after them it became a several times a day occurance.
 
I lost my little greyhound in April with heart failure - she hadn’t had a heart murmur all her life, then in February she had her teeth done and they detected a murmur. She had a stroke on 1st April and then went into quite rapid heart failure after that, we tried Vetmedin and Frusemide but she didn’t pick up at all. She was eating, she was pottering around at home, but she was existing not living.... I made the decision for her and do not regret it in the least. God I miss her so much 😢
 
just a thought, my dog had an attack of vestibular syndrome overnight about 10 weeks ago, took her to vets and he said its like vertigo in humans and they normally recover to a degree. it affects the nerve at the base of the ear which controls balance. she has recovered quite well but she has weakness in her back legs which she didnt have before, and when she turned her head she would sometimes fall, sounds similar to yours, perhaps she had similar but not as bad as mine. mine was just 13 and the vet says it is sometimes called old dog syndrome and they dont really know why it happens but it can be caused by an inner ear infection at any age but this didnt apply to mine...mine also was reluctant to go far away from me, she isnt quite so clingy now but still more clingy than she used to be. mine is also a collie..and i know of 2 other collies who have had the same, one a lot worse than mine age 14 and was PTS and the other was 13 and recovered very quickly within 48 hours..

also my old lurcher had a grade 4 heart murmur most of her life and it didnt seem to affect her running around and wasnt the cause of me losing her she had arthritis in her hips and we couldnt keep her comfortable with pain relief....lost her at almost 13.
 
Thanks, that makes things a little clearer, the vet seems to think the main issue is the arthritis but I just don't think it is, I am so much better assessing horses than dogs, I have never had a dog that has been unhealthy until their last week or two when they just age so rapidly a decision is usually best but this time I just feel I may be missing something.

splashgirl just seen your post, when it first happened I was convinced it was balance, inner ear, I have something similar going on at the moment and it seemed to be the same type of loss of balance but the vet did not think it likely and went straight to the legs which are a bit weaker than they were, she did check the ears and saw nothing of concern, mine had a very bad ear infection as a puppy which was at first thought to be epilepsy and she was nearly pts at 6 weeks, she is now totally deaf.
A few more things to consider tomorrow.
 
well my collie was fine on her back legs before this attack and now she is a bit wobbly and she jumped down a couple of steps last week and collapsed on her back legs, she obviously doesnt realise she is now weak in her back legs and so i have to be careful for her, i now have a harness and as she loves swimming in the river i keep her on the lead when i am near water just in case she overbalances and cant get up...they are such a worry...they couldnt find anything in my collies ears either but the diagnosis was also based on her eyes flickering...
 
A clients collie who we lost earlier in the year suffered a couple of similar episodes- and it turned out to be a tumour on the spleen. I’d urged a scan when it first happened but the vets were reluctant, sadly her final collapse was her last, as they finally did scan and discovered the tumour.

My clients vet also put it down to hind limb arthritis.
 
We had very similar issues with my 11yo dachshund. Do you know what grade the heart murmur is at present? That might give you some indication. When mine was diagnosed (ie heart failure) we thought maybe 6 months but he went downhill very quickly. The vet gave us a number of meds to trial and we decided on a 5 day trial to see if there was any improvement: by day 3 we called it a day. His murmur went from grade 3 to 4 very rapidly which was a sign his heart was degrading fast.

Interestingly the heart failure was missed by another vet who had been concentrating on possible arthritis and wanted lots of bloods for liver function as the one previous blood test had shown a slightly off result. I do believe if she had assessed him properly he would have been caught sooner as the second vet found it immediately. Needless to say I now refuse to deal with her.

The collapsing ime was the heart failure so definitely worth following it up.
 
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We lost our Collie in February at 13. He was very arthritic behind, and his painkillers weren’t helping. When we took him to the vet for the final time, upon examining him, she could feel a mass on his spleen that hadn’t been obvious around 5 weeks before hand.

His heart had always been fine, but just before the end, he’d got puffy front legs which I believe was a sign of heart failure.

Sorry I can’t be more positive. Xx
 
She classed it as moderate and would need a referral to scan which at this time I really don't think is in her best interests, if she has a good weekend she can start on meds on Monday but my gut is telling me I will be taking her in before then as the kindest thing, it is just the speed she has gone downhill at that is making it so hard to be certain that is the right thing.
I lost the lab a few months ago but she had been on borrowed time for a while, until this week Spring still looked and acted like a young dog with people who had never met her before being amazed to hear she is 15.
 
Honestly I would do a scan over drugs if your worried about qol.
Heart may be the primary issues but at this age there may be multiple factors at play...and the suspicion for tumours and underlying issues rises with age as more and more of our body systems glitch out as we age.

Better to know exactly what your treating then throw meds at the issue and hope it fixes it.
Ultrasound scanning of the heart and abdomen isn't particularly stressful to the vast majority of animals. is a quick non invasive procedure and should provide a lot of answers in a very short space of time...and allow for a safer plan then trial and error with drugs.
 
Completely fair. She's had a good run to make it to 15 and you know her best. Just wanted to offer the other side in the hopes it helps. Enjoy her and I'm sorry to hear she's going downhill.
 
Im with you. My beloved 10 yr old lab has been coughing for a few weeks. The vets were adament it was kennel cough and treated him 3 times with antibiotics. I wasn't convinced as the other two havent coughed. They finally xrayed on tues, found fluid around his lungs and drained 1.5 litres of fluid off. Hes booked for an ultrasound on weds, but he sounds like its all filled up in his lungs already, despite being on heart meds. So its either a tumour or hes not responding to the meds, either way its not good news. It barely seems worth scanning now - i feel like we're scanning to find out what we're putting him down for. The vets have mentioned xraining him again, but whats the point? I just watched one of my best friends go down hill and die, why would I pay to do that to my dog? Not sure my husband is quite on the same page yet, i think he thinks Im rushing. I adore this dog, but dont want him to suffer.
 
Thanks all, losing 2 in less than 6 months is tough, the Lab was 14 and it was not unexpected but this was out of the blue and although she was over 15 she just seemed like a pup until recently, I just couldn't bear to see her lose her dignity just in case I could have a bit longer with her and it seemed right that she didn't have too long being an old dog.
 
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