Heart Murmurs & Hernias

Our puppies JD, Barcardi and Brandy have heart murmurs. This is very common puppies around 4 months old because of their fast growth.  Most grow out of it.  After adopting one of our puppies, a vet freaked the family out so they returned the pup.  The vet labeled it as “failure to thrive”.  Yet our vet, whom we work with closely, and has examined these pups since the day they were born, said both Barcardi and Brandy’s heart murmurs were so insignificant, he didn’t mention it.

We also run into situations with ambilical hernias in puppies, caused when the mother cuts the cord too close.  Some vets repair them during spay/neuter, some do not.  Regardless, of all of the vets (dozens) I have worked with in the past 2 years, they all say the same thing – the puppy will grow out of it.  It’s only because the pups are being spay/neutered do we operate on them.  It’s kind of a “while we’re here” type of thing.

We posted Heart Murmurs on Facebook, and we got quite a huge response.  You can click here to read the comments.

Regardless, when you adopt or buy a dog, there are no guarantees.  Dogs develop illnesses later on in life, puppies grow out of them, we still don’t understand why parvo kills some pups and spares others.

Our goal is to share with our followers the fact that many puppies are born with heart murmurs, and all that means is that there is “a sound”.  Even extensive testing will not provide any results.  Thousands of dollars later, your vet will probably tell you to wait a while and see if this becomes a problem.  Clearly, none of the pups have shown the signs that are listed on the internet as “severe”.

Heart Murmurs in Dogs is a great article that goes into in detail about the condition.

However, since J.D.’s heart murmur is more significant, Lynne has requested that we place a medical hold in him so that we may watch his progress with her vet over the next few months.  This will give us a chance to document the changes, and understand more, first hand, how heart murmurs affect young dogs.

Holly wrote:  My brother-in-law got a puppy that had a murmur. The vet wanted to euthanize it!  It is now 8 years old.  Thank goodness for rational thought!!!

And this is exactly why, when you are consulting with your vet, you need to remember that he is giving you his professional opinion.  Do not react.  Do not over react.  Ask your vet for all the options.  Then, just as you would with a medical doctor, get a second opinion, do your research before you make a drastic or permanent decision.  There is a wealth of knowledge readily available on the internet.  And, as demonstrated so drastically in the response to our facebook post about these puppies, there is a large body of people with personal experience with almost any situation you will come across.   Avail yourself of all of these resources before you leap.