Golden Retriever puppy

Question
Hi Jana,
I would like to ask your advice. My family and I have fallen in love with a beautiful 9 week old golden retriever puppy.
She is adorable. She has a heart murmur grade 5. Her brother also has a heart murmur and he has found a good home.
The other five pups in the litter were fine and all have good homes.
We would dearly like to give her a good home but I need to know what to expect. I realise there are issues.
What advice can you give me.
Thank you for your time.

Jackie


Answer
This is a tough one Jackie, because any dog born with a congenital heart murmur may possibly face problems later in life.

However, the grade of a murmur signifies its loudness, not the severity of the murmur itself. That can only be determined by a echocardiogram. Chest xrays do not give the proper amount of information to diagnose the severity of the murmur's cause.

Your best bet is to take her in for this test and then decide whether or not you want to keep her. Sounds to me like that is a done deal anyway, so you just have to realize that she may have heart issues later on- and she may not! It's an unpredictable situation.

If she seems active, healthy and eats and gains weight normally, she will probably be fine. But you do need to know what you might be facing in the future. While I doubt if the breeder will foot the bill for the EC they should- or maybe go halves with you.

They also should NOT be breeding these two dogs that created this litter. They are breeding dogs that are passing this down. That needs to stop with this litter.

Here are some sites that you can read up on murmurs:

http://www.petplace.com/article-printer-friendly.aspx?id=5400

http://www.veterinarypartner.com/Content.plx?P=A&A=2488

I hope that she does well. Let me know what you find out later on.