The Importance of Addressing Heart Murmurs in Pets
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Key Facts
- Heart murmurs are vibrations caused by abnormal blood flow, graded on a scale of one to six.
- Causes range from congenital defects and anemia to dental disease, inflammation, cardiomyopathy, and heartworm.
- Diagnosis typically involves X-rays and/or cardiac ultrasound to assess heart anatomy and blood flow.
- The main goal of treatment is to prevent congestive heart failure.
- Many murmurs can be successfully treated with medication and sometimes surgery, allowing pets to live long, happy lives.
Let’s start with a bit of biology first. The heart has four chambers—two atria and two ventricles —and the valves between each part of the heart control the flow of blood within the heart and to the lungs and the rest of the body. There are two valves to the heart. The left side valve is called the mitral valve, and the valve on the right side of the heart is called the tricuspid valve.
When I listen to your pet’s heart with my stethoscope, I hear the heartbeat, which is the closing of the valves. A heart murmur is the vibration of the heart caused by abnormal blood flow in the heart, so instead of a lub dub, I might hear a slushing sound. I then grade it on a scale of one to six, with one being very faint and six being so loud that you can often hear it without a stethoscope by placing your ear near the dog’s chest, and you can feel the strong vibration with your hands.
There are many causes of heart murmurs. Some are due to congenital defects, which are malformations of the heart and its blood vessels. Both puppies and kittens can be born with this type of heart murmur, which is why you should take your pet to the vet as soon as possible so that we can screen for this.
Anemia, characterized by a low red blood count, can cause a murmur, as can a fever. Additionally, an unexplained low-grade murmur in a puppy may disappear as they mature. Inflammation or endocarditis, or permanent scarring of the valves, can also cause a murmur.
One of the most common murmurs I hear today is due to dental disease because the dental tartar releases bacteria into the bloodstream, which then infects the heart valves and organs in the body, leading to premature organ failure. Therefore, when I check your pets’ teeth and find a lot of tartar buildup and inflammation, more than half of the time, I find a heart murmur in that dog as well.
If your pet has bad teeth, be sure to also get their heart checked for a murmur. Cardiomyopathy, characterized by abnormal thickening or thinning of the heart’s muscular walls, can cause a murmur, which is the most common murmur in cats.
Heartworm disease can also cause a murmur not only because the worms obstruct the flow of blood but also because the heart becomes enlarged as it tries to continue pumping blood around them.
All heart murmurs should be worked up! If I find a murmur, the next step would be to do an X-ray and or cardiac ultrasound to measure all the anatomic parts of the heart as well as the speed of blood flow through each of them. After detecting a murmur, the main goal in all cases is to prevent your pet from going into congestive heart failure, which is life-threatening.
Just because I diagnose a murmur does not mean that your pet will have a shortened life span as it depends on the underlying cause. Many health issues can be prevented by keeping your pet lean, taking care of their teeth, and getting regular check-ups.
We now have veterinary cardiologists, who are veterinarians who graduated from vet school and then went on to study the heart and become experts in the treatment of heart disease and murmurs, the majority of which can be successfully treated with medication and sometimes surgery. Sometimes I hear people say that their pet has a murmur, and their veterinarian cannot sedate them to do a dental.
Still, I routinely anesthetize patients with murmurs because we have all the tools we need to be able to perform this necessary procedure on your pets safely. All heart murmurs require monitoring throughout your pet’s lifetime, and with today’s advances, pets with murmurs and heart disease can lead long, happy lives, giving you that unconditional love that is priceless.
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