Peer-reviewed veterinary case report
When do innocent heart murmurs go away in Cairn terrier puppies
By van Staveren, M D B & Szatmári, V·Published in Veterinary journal (London, England : 1997)·2019·Department of Clinical Sciences of Companion Animals, Netherlands·View original on PubMed →
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Original publication title: Age when presumptive innocent cardiac murmurs spontaneously disappear in clinically healthy Cairn terrier puppies.
- Species:
- dog
Plain-English summary
A group of Cairn terrier puppies were found to have innocent heart murmurs during their first vet check. These murmurs are common and often resolve on their own as the puppies grow. In this study, most of the puppies had their murmurs disappear by around 3 months of age, but some still had them at older ages, with one puppy having a murmur until nearly 10 months old. Regular check-ups showed that the murmurs typically went away without any treatment, giving owners peace of mind about their puppies' heart health.
People also search for: Cairn terrier puppy heart murmur · innocent heart murmur in puppies · when do puppy heart murmurs go away
Abstract
Innocent cardiac murmurs are common findings in Cairn terrier puppies during their first veterinary health check. The age when these murmurs spontaneously disappear is unreported. The purpose of this study was to establish the age when presumably innocent cardiac murmurs disappear in a population of clinically healthy Cairn terrier puppies. Over a period of 9 months, 227 clinically healthy Cairn terrier puppies (median age, 53 days; range, 45-76 days) underwent auscultation by a veterinary cardiology specialist, who identified 82 puppies with a presumably innocent cardiac murmur. Owners of 20 puppies volunteered to return to the clinic for serial rechecks. Owners of three puppies returned only once, therefore these puppies were censored. Hence this longitudinal observational study followed 17 puppies with monthly cardiac auscultation until the disappearance of their murmurs. The median age of the 20 puppies when the murmur was last audible was 65 days (range 52-285 days). The median age of the 17 puppies when the murmur was no longer audible was 87 days (range 71-347 days; 95% confidence interval 63-111 days). Four of the 17 puppies had a murmur after 3 months of age and two of them had a murmur beyond 6 months of age. The oldest puppy to have an audible murmur was 9.5 months old; this murmur was not audible at 11.5 months of age. In most Cairn terrier puppies in this population, the presumably innocent murmur resolved spontaneously by 3 months of age.
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Search related cases →Original publication on PubMed: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/31113558/