I just found this list thru Darcy's blog and must say I am very
pleased to have a list for MVD. We have been testing since late in
1992. It is wonderful to find a site where MVD can be discussed openly!
I am very aware that many - far too many - regular vets cannot hear
murmurs much below a Grade III/VI, so I think that the use of
specialists becoming the standard is an excellent one.
The concern about excluding dogs with non-pathological murmurs (such
as flow murmurs or other innocent murmurs) can be addressed by having
a recheck subsequent to the initial failed auscultation, followed by a
Doppler exam should a murmur still be audible.
I am not sure what Mr Swift intended by his reference to a Doppler at
age 5 being used to determine the breeding status of both the dog and
his/her progeny. Does anyone have any more details on that?
What do members think of this which has been highlighted on the Cavalier Club UK site. I personally favour echocardiography as a way forward, this can only...
Compared to auscultation, which is a fancy name for listening to the heart through a stethoscope, echocardiography is much more accurate and much more...
Is there a relationship between how much leakage and backflow one would expect to see with echocardiography and what grade murmur a cardiologist rated the dog...
I have found that the cardiologists first will listen to the murmur with a stethoscope and determine the grade of the murmur. Then, if they decide to use the...
Hi Rod and Carolyn too, this is what happened to Ellie in her case the
leakage was greater than what could be heard on the stethoscope. Her
medication was...
Anita, I agree that echocardiography is more accurate and therefore often a better procedure for diagnosing the degree of MVD for treatment purposes. But I...
The Cavalier that prompted my question had the following (all within a short period of time) General vet 1 -- dog has a low grade murmur Cardiologist -- dog is...
Carolyn: Depending upon how much is a "small amount of leakage", I am told that the echocardiographs will pick up a small amount of leakage in almost any...
Thank you for your response. I do wonder if general vets sometimes "find" things that are not there, because they expect them to be. Over five years ago, our...
I have a Cavalier who will be seven in October. Our general vet listened to her heart very carefully and for some considerable time when she had her annual...
Hi Janine, I would agree with you in thinking if your vet says she was "fine" nothing abnormal has been detected on that visit. Having had dogs myself who had...
Hi List! I just found this list thru Darcy's blog and must say I am very pleased to have a list for MVD. We have been testing since late in 1992. It is...
Hi Hilarie, Darcy's blog is brilliant and we are very grateful that we can link to Darcy's site. I agree many regular vets cannot hear murmurs below a Grade...
Hi Hilarie, My interpretation (could be mistaken) is that the doppler at age 5 would mean a new definition of "clear". Flow murmurs would be ok, so some who ...
I was not aware that flow murmurs were being mis-diagnosed as MVD murmurs by auscultation. I thought cardiologists could tell the difference. The real problem...
... Actually, misdiagnosis of flow murmurs even by the best of cardiologists is not at all unheard of. Most of the situations that I have heard of involve...
Dr. Jens Häggström, a notable cardiologist in Sweden, wrote in a recently presented paper to the 2006 North American Veterinary Conference that: "[Cavaliers]...
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