Self-Reported Management of Incidentally Detected Heart Murmurs in Puppies: A Survey among Veterinarians

Heart murmurs in puppies can be innocent or pathologic; the latter is almost always related to a congenital heart disease. Differentiating between these murmurs can be challenging for practicing veterinarians, but this differentiation is essential to ensure the best prognosis for puppies having a co...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Animals (Basel) 2024-06, Vol.14 (12), p.1821
Main Authors: van Staveren, Marie D B, Muis, Esther, Szatmári, Viktor
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Amplatz
animal health
Auscultation
balloon valvuloplasty
Breeding of animals
Cardiology
Cardiovascular disease
catheter intervention
Congenital diseases
Congenital heart disease
Contingency tables
Continuing education
dogs
echocardiography
Genetic disorders
Heart
heart diseases
Heart murmurs
Immunization
Internet
Pharmaceutical industry
prognosis
puppies
Questionnaires
Self report
surveys
Veterinarians
Veterinary medicine
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Summary:Heart murmurs in puppies can be innocent or pathologic; the latter is almost always related to a congenital heart disease. Differentiating between these murmurs can be challenging for practicing veterinarians, but this differentiation is essential to ensure the best prognosis for puppies having a congenital heart disease. Our study aimed to reveal how veterinarians manage puppies with a heart murmur. A web-based questionnaire was sent to Dutch and Belgian veterinary practices. Data from 452 respondents were analyzed. Though 88% of the respondents find detecting a heart murmur easy, only 9% find differentiating innocent murmurs from pathologic murmurs in puppies easy. Of the respondents, only 80% recommend immediate additional examination when detecting a loud heart murmur during the first veterinary health check at 6 weeks of age. Most of the respondents are aware that normal growth and the absence of clinical signs do not exclude severe congenital heart disease. Of the respondents, 31% were uncertain whether early surgical intervention could lead to improved outcomes. Veterinarians are aware of the importance of echocardiography for puppies with a loud heart murmur, and recognize their limitations when differentiating an innocent from a pathological heart murmur in a puppy.
ISSN:2076-2615
2076-2615
DOI:10.3390/ani14121821