Q: WHAT IS A HEART MURMUR?

A: A heart murmur is a sound caused by turbulence in blood flow. A murmur can occur if the valves in the heart are leaking, either due to age changes, developmental defects of the valves or abnormal shunting of blood. Heart murmurs are graded on a scale of 1 to 6 or 1 to 5. Soft murmur (up to 3/5) may be physiologic and within normal variation. High grade murmurs are considered abnormal. Even if a high grade murmur is present in an old dog, treatment may not initially be needed.

Q: DO PETS GET PACEMAKERS?

A: Yes, pets do have pacemakers implanted routinely. A pacemaker is implemented in cases where the conduction system in the heart is diseased and thereby causes an abnormal low heart rate. Often these pets show signs such as weakness or collapse (syncope).

Q: WHAT IS PERICARDIAL EFFUSION, AND WHY DOES IT OCCUR?

A: Pericardial effusion is a build up of fluid in the sack surrounding the heart. If a large amount of pericardial effusion is present it can compress the heart and prevent it from filling with blood and working properly. When this occurs, cardiac tamponade is said to be present. Pericardial effusion can be caused by heart tumors. Common types of heart tumors are hemangiosarcomas, which often involve the right atrium, and chemodectomas, which usually surround the aorta and are often called heart base tumors. Sometimes no obvious reason is found for the pericardial effusion, in which case the etiology is classified as idiopathic. If a significant amount of pericardial effusion is present, the heart sounds are muffled, and on chest radiographs the heart silhouette will be globoid and have the appearance of a balloon without obvious edges.