Vet said a few years ago that my Miniture Schnauzer has a heart murmur. When I took him for his annual booster recently she said that it seemed to be getting worse and asked if he was coughing at night. She said that he would have to be treated for it when he showed symptoms.
He isn`t coughing and although he isn`t as active as my Lhaso Apso he runs quite a bit and doesn`t seem to tire and doesn`t cough. He is getting fat though.
Anyone had experience of a heart murmur in their dog?
Would be grateful for any advice as to what to do.

Yes, I've had three Cavaliers, a breed which all eventually get heart murmours. One had to be on medication for it from about the age of 6. Another was diagnosed quite young and was checked yearly at innoculation time. It never appeared to get any worse and sometimes the vet couldn't even hear it.

I would say if your dog is getting fat then he needs to diet and keep up the exercise.

Hi Imogen.

My last dog Taz was diagnosed with a heart murmur when he was about 7 months old. It stayed much the same until he was about 6, then it started to become more severe, he didn't have any symptoms still though.

He never needed to receive any treatment for his heart, although I would imagine if he'd lived longer he would have done. (he had to be pts when he was 10 because his hip problems got too severe and he was in pain)

It seems to be quite a common problem and most dogs go on to live completely full and normal lives, sometimes with a little help from medication. I know of 17-18 year old dogs with heart murmurs, who are still going strong!

For now, provided your dog isn't coughing and seems to cope well and doesn't get excessively tired with exercise, I wouldn't be too worried. Try and get his weight down though because any excess weight will put more pressure on his heart.

Thanks for the replies, they have given me hope. My last Mini dies of kidney failure at the age of 11, two weeks after we realised that he was ill. I never want to go through another two weeks like those, My other half was working away at the time and we spent ages on the `phone both in floods of tears.

My Cav is 9 years old now, she developed the heart murmur when she was about 5, which worsened a while ago now, and she has been on heart pills for about 9 months. If her cough gets worse, she will have to be on some other tablets too which reduce fluid on the lungs. It costs me about £14 a month for her pills, but even if it were more, I'd still pay of course. She was a bit overweight, but have managed to get her down by about a kilo, she is now only about half a kilo over, so am quite chuffed about that, she is much fitter now and regularly runs and huffs around with some other dogs up at the farm. My other Cavs have been around 12 when they died, so am hoping that she will be around for at least 3 more years.