How Do Small Animals Cope With Heart Surgery?
It is vital to share any concerns or questions that you may have with your veterinarian especially when it comes to your pet’s physical condition and lifestyle. If you are not comfortable with a diagnosis from your general veterinarian, you should consider seeking out a specialist for your dog.
You could go to a veterinary cardiologist who specialises in small animal cardiology. These vets have specialized training and probably have vast experience in these problems and other issues that your dog may have.
If your dog has a heart murmur, this is indicative that it has a high or abnormal amount of blood flow within it’s heart. This can either be due to a change in the heart valves and their function or a variety of other potential reasons.
There may be an abnormal communication between the left and the right side of the dog’s heart and this can result in having a dog heart murmur.
There may be many reasons for this. They may be either congenital or acquired.
This then means that the heart was affected after the dog was born due to disease or age.
Dog heart murmur symptoms may involve some of the following: bluish tinge to the gums or tongue, poor exercise ability, coughing, labored breathing and even fainting.
Some of these symptoms would suggest that your pup may have other health issues. However, the symptoms are similar between benign heart murmurs and those that are more severe in nature. If you are at all concerned about your dog’s health, you should,of course, consult your veterinarian. A couple of these symptoms can be overlooked which would include poor exercise ability and a bluish tinge to the gums.
If you think that your dog has any dog heart murmur symptoms, canine heart disease or the development of congestive heart failure, immediately contact your vet for a positive diagnosis. For more information please go here.
There are certain symptoms that indicate your dog may have serious health problems. The best way to identify the source and severity of a dog’s heart murmur is to have your dog thoroughly checked out by a veterinarian. However, additional testing may be necessary which may include a heart ultrasound, EKG, blood testing and chest x-rays.
The ultrasound may be particularly beneficial given that your veterinarian can measure the extent of your dog’s heart murmur. It will define whatever the cause of the underlying heart disease may be.
It is vitally important to have the cause of your dog’s heart condition diagnosed because there are some cases where heart murmurs are treatable either by medication or surgery.
