Bad news at the vet with Jasper

[barnjess]

Jaspey and Jake went to the vet today, both for kennel couch and Jake for his booster as well, pearl and barn are in tomorrow as they couldn't fit them all in at once. jasper was such a good boy, strange places usually freak him out so I got there 30min early so he could settle. he was such a happy boy, it just shows how far he has progressed since we got him. Anyway the vet gave him a good check up, and she said he has a heart murmur did I know? I said I didn't, my poor baby, hes had a hard life as it is without this.

[Galileobox]

Oh-poor guy. What grade is his murmur? Did the vet indicate how severe it is?

[barnjess]

Nope, she just said I should get him refereed to be tested, so we know what we are dealing with, at the moment I am having a hard time finding a cardiologist near us, the closest is 6 hours away.

[fehu1331]

Poor guy, hopefully its not too bad, keep us posted!!

[barnjess]

Thanks I will, I just hope I don't have to drag him on a 6 hour trip.

[VendettaBoxers]

Oh, I am so sorry to hear about this.... Big Boxer Hugs and Kisses to Jasper...... I hope after testing it is nothing to warry about and that he'll be just fine..... Keep us posted!

[Dax]

Barnjess... have you considered a second opinion? Did another vet at the clinic has a listen?

[mara]

If he is feeling well and behaving as you would expect, I personally wouldn't worry too much about it right now. It never hurts to get a second opinion if you want. It's good information to have in mind if he were to become ill. If he gets to a point where he's short of breath and coughing, indicating heart failure from a leaky heart valve, then he may have to be on medication. I can't remember, is he neutered? He shouldn't be bred, but I think I remember you did neuter him. This is why Holter Monitoring is so important in Boxers, like Ragtyme does.
A Holter, of course, can't diagnose a murmer but an irregular heart rhythm could be an indication of the severity of the valve leak.

[carlar]

We purchased a Yorkie for breeding and later found out that she had a heart murmer. Don't know how the first checkups missed it but we had her spayed and gave her to a good home and she did fine as a pet. I would imagine it will depend on how bad the murmur it as to the quality of life.

[RagTyme Boxers]

I am very sorry to hear this. Unfortunately, heart disease is big in Boxers.

A holter however, would not diagnose a murmur, ARVC is an electrical disease does not have a murmur. Unfortunately, ARVC (cardiomyopathy) is a silent killer, as it does not produce murmurs.
Sub-Aortic stenosis is however associated with murmurs and Jasper being a Boxer is what I would suspect. The test for this is an echo doppler, I would definately get him in to see the specialist.

Big Boxer kisses from my gang to Jasper