heart mumour - Page 2

the murmur has never been detected before? has she had any infections?

not that i'am aware of and no infections

I agree with DH. I had a dog I bought while living in Germany. The vet there said she heard a murmour, she also bred GSD's. When I got to the states I had access to other vets and asked specificly to check for a murmour. Nothing was ever noted by another vet. Either the pup outgrew it or it was never there. Could have been a jelous retaliation, since I bought from another breeder?? Who knows but we do detect more now, than we used to. Dogs can live and work with many of these issues with or without us being aware. I wouldn't knowingly breed to a dog who had heart issues but I wouldn't count a stud out, if he had no record of heart checkups either. We can't possibly check our dogs for every health issue. If simptoms arise is when we usually start looking. I have a crooked spine and bad hips and I had a child. God only knows what other ailments I hold inside. I wouldn't suggest to my daughter she not have children, if she inherits something I passed on. I also wouldn't blame breeders for selling me a dog that had a murmour or developed cancer a couple years down the road. Life is life, and nature will do as it will. We would like to think we can control everything but we cannot. I don't believe the breeder intentionally sold the pup knowing it had a problem. How he handles the situation after the fact will show his business character.

OK, let me rephrase........ IF the breeder knew about the murmur, he should have told the buyer before he sold her the dog. If he didn't know, then either it was not detected by the vet or the dog was not examined by a vet. If he knew and sold her the pup anyway without mentioning it, then that's not a good thing.

MJJ, since the breeder has agreed to pay for the diagnosis at 6 months and you want to wait that long,why not see if you can get the echocardiogram done at that time. If this murmur has just started at 4 months it is troubling to me regardless of how the dog is acting. How old was the pup when you got it? How long after did you take it to the vet for a check up? Is this the first visit? If it was my dog I would be insisting on an echo now and insisting the breeder pay for it now,not in 2 months. Just my opinion.

P.S. a murmur 3.4/6 is relatively loud

It certainly is.

i have had the dog for a week so i took into the vet's a couple of days later.

MJJ, I wish you luck with this puppy and hope you will take gsdlvr2's advice ASAP.

I agree with DH on the juvenile heart murmor. I have all my pups checked shortly after birth and again 4 weeks especially if any pups were noted as having one. Then 8 weeks. I had one pup out of a litter that was noted and kept him till 12 weeks at which time it disappeared. The vet explained it exactly as DH did. I give the new owners copies of all the puppy checkups and shots with the notes by the vet on each puppy. At four weeks we put color coded collars on them and notes on specific puppys and weights are noted by collar color. So nothing is hidden. Some breeders do there own shots and wormings in the USA and the pups may not have seen a vet. It is more economical, though I would rather have a vet do it to check on the complete health of the pups for things like this. If the breeder is willing to pay for the checkup at 6 months, He was probably unaware of the situation. So he is backing up his dogs, this is honest. And he is right that alot of them do outgrow this. DH's information is probably most relevant to what you are asking. See what happens at 6 months unless there is a change in the dogs health before then and be glad you dealt with a breeder who is willing to backup his dogs.