English bulldog heart murmur?
It is not unusual for vets to detect a slight murmour in puppies of this age, but quite often everything is normal once they have grown. Your vet may be over-reacting, but of course has a duty to inform you of this finding. I suggest you contact the breeder who sold you the puppy, and at least inform them of your vet's findings, and discuss with them. # At this stage, I would perhaps get a second opinion from a specialist vet, preferable one that is also a breeder, but do not panic at this stage. You can have the dog checked again once it is fully grown, before it is neutered.
The vet told me my cat has a heart murmur. Is there anything I can do, like diet or supplements, to help? My cat is young, about 2-3 years old.
My cat Greebo had a heart murmur. It was not a surprise - he had been rescued after his mother refused to feed him - a tiny malnourished 7 week old kitten born to a brother and sister from the same litter, so he was inbred. Although inbreeding is something cats seem to tolerate quite well, he did have a couple of issued. One was a heart murmur.The only area of his life which it impacted is that I avoided any unnecessary surgery on him, other than the neutering operation, so keep your cat’s teeth in good condition to avoid dental surgery. To do this, feed your cat the very best quality cat food (preferably dried but you could go with specially prepared raw meat) that you can, and when your cat is 7 or 8, switch to a kidney support diet. With a good diet you should not need supplements, but you could have an annual blood test done and ask the vet to recommend supplements to address any deficiencies. Also, take your cat to the vets every year for his teeth to be looked at - you can book them in for a vet nurse to give his teeth a scrub, or try cleaning them yourself (there are special brushes and meaty pastes you can buy).Having said that, Greebo nearly died of diarrhoea just after we took him in (too young to be away from his mum - rescuer didn’t think to put him with a nursing mother); he lost half a tail ‘somehow’, then got annually poisoned by something environmental (a natural toxin around September), then had a badly fractured pelvis in a car accident (we live a long way from the road - daft animal) before late on in life developing kidney disease. At age 15 our vets said we either did daily sub-cut fluid injections or he’d die. We brought him home to die and he promptly went on to flourish without injections, living a further 2 years on special kidney support food and lots and lots of loving attention. He went through his 9 lives, for sure!He liveed a full and glorious life, dying from kidney failure aged 17.
How long can my dog live with a heart murmur?
Your dog has what is called congestive heart failure. The mumur is the sound that is heard when his mitral (most likely) valve does not close properly and leaks blood back up into the left atrium (blood is going backwards instead of forewards). The extra blood in the left atrium backs up into the pulmonary vessels (lungs) and leaks fluid into the air sacks, resulting in 'water in the lungs'. The heart muscle will eventually fail because it cannot pump enough blood to the rest of the body. Your dog is probably on furosemide, enalapril and spirinolactone. These medications are exceptionally helpfull in manageing heart failure, but can occasionally cause side effects such as anorexia and nausea (do to electrolyte abnormalities, most likely). However, anorexia can also be caused by worsening of his condition. my advice is to call your veterinarian, or bring your dog the him/her to talk over your concerns and so that your vet can look at him again and maybe change his therapy depending on what they see. Mitral insufficiancy in beagles (and other dogs) can be caused by valvular degeneration (most likely in your dogs case) or can be congenital. Either way, there is not a thing you could have done to prevent it, so dont beat yourself up for not having noticed it earlier. I am sorry for you and your dog
Question about grade 5-6 heart murmur in Shih Tzu.See details?
That is a very high grade murmur. Did your vet put him on lasix or some other diuretic? A high level murmur such as that usually causes heart failure and eventual death. Because your dog is older, hear tfailure and valve leakage would be more common than in a younger dog. He is nearing the end of his life span. As long as you can keep the symptoms under control with medication, you still have a bit of time. Enjoy it. Just try to make sure he doesn't become too short of breath.
My two year old has a heart murmur?
They discovered a small heart murmur when my son was 2 so we went to see the pediatric cardiologist and he said that it wasn't anything that we should be worried about because most go away on their own. My son just had his 3 year check up on Thursday and the heart murmur was completely gone just as they said it probably would be. I was afraid when I first heard that he had one but was reassured that it would be fine and that most toddlers do have them. It's scary to hear that your child has any issues but for this one i would have to say not to stress out too much about it. Hope everything goes ok and i'm pretty sure it will. good luck with your little one.
My 15 month old male maltese shih tzu is licking my 7 week old cat constantly...should i be worried?
we're up to day 3 of having our new addition to the family, the first 2 days weren't so good my dog is SO over the top excited by the kitten im worried that he is going to loose control. But this afternoon we have let them sit together on our laps and my dog is licking the cat so much that the poor kitten is drenched. His licking at times is almost frantic and if kitten moves he jumps and whimpers, he is a beautifully natured dog but is so excited by the kitten i am a little worried, as i speak he is sitting on the arm of my chair staring at the sleeping kitten on my lap panting like he has been for a run and whining every now and then....i have read that even male dogs can be "mothering" towards kittens so im wondering where i draw the line between nurturing and tasting??
When do male cats start spraying? Also, at what age does a kitten become a cat?
Hi -most people say that kittens become cats at about a year (although some breeds take longer). They generally stop growing though around about then. In terms of reaching sexual maturity, this is meant to happen between about 6 and 10ish months. I think you're probably just very lucky if he hasn't started spraying yet. Chances are, as soon as he ever sniffs another animal off you (friend's dog, cat whatever) he'll start it. And it reeks. I honestly wouldn't take the risk because if they start it's hard to get them to stop even after they've been neutered. I think you probably need to take the vet's advice on whether an operation for neutering will affect the hole in the heart situation but, generally, neutered cats are healthier, happier and live longer. They also don't go crazy in mating season, constantly claw to get out of the house and knock up other girl cats (if they're outdoor cats). Obviously it's your choice but my advice would be take the cat to the vet's immediately to discuss neutering - you have left it late but not too late. Hope this helps? My cat's 10 months and was neutered ay 6. I'd just had experience of a friend's cat which sprayed too late and they couldn't get it to stop. Nightmare
My puppy has a 5/6 grade heart murmur. How will this affect his life span?
Heart murmurs are graded in severity from 1-6. At 5, your dog has a very severe murmur. The odds of it being a benign murmur (one that does not cause a functional issue with the heart) are pretty darn small at that grade. If you are attached to your pet, I would take the advice of your vet and have an echo-cardiogram done to diagnose the cause of the murmur. As the vet says, some causes are operable. Left alone, your dog likely has limited life expectancy (as the vet told you). If for some reason you don't trust your vet's opinion, get a second opinion from another vet.
Why did my vet tell me my cat is too old (19) to do dental surgery on his advanced gingivitis? Won't it hurt and possibly kill him?
I am a veterinarian as well as an animal control officer. 19 is old for an animal to be put under anesthesia. Have I done it? Yes, I have. In fact, the one that really concerned me was when a 23 year old cat that I had been treating for kidney disease came in for not eating (the original complaint a year before when I diagnosed her with kidney disease). The cat had a bad tooth, had kidney issues and only weighed about 4 lbs due to the kidney disorder. I told the owner that if I put her under, she might not wake up from the anesthetic but if I did not put her under, she was not going to eat because she was in too much pain from the bad tooth. The owner elected to put the cat to sleep initially. I spoke with her and said, “Instead of euthanizing her, can we try to remove the tooth and see if she wakes up?” It was going to cost about the same and if the cat woke up, she would have her pet back. I did not think she would wake up. To my surprise, she did wake up and started gobbling down her food as soon as she was awake enough for her to safely swallow. I called the owner back who thought I was calling her to say the cat died. She went home and lived another 6 months with the owner. (She died naturally in her sleep which is what the owner preferred rather than euthanizing the cat prematurely.)
My 8-month-old Russian Blue cat died suddenly this afternoon. What happened?
We have twin male Russian blues that we adopted in July. They recently started venturing outside. We left this afternoon at around 3, and they were both scampering about. My husband came home from work around 7 to find the cat curled up dead on the porch. Upon inspection, he found no broken bones (so, not hit by a car), drool, foam, or vomit (so, not poisoned). I think that the cat may have been eating and drinking less recently, but this is hard to say, as perhaps they're eating critters outside now? And he was the "beta" and would never eat until after his brother began to eat. So, this may not be true. Does anyone have any idea as to what could have happened? Are there health conditions specific to Russian blues?