Lindey and I went to the vet on Monday for her senior wellness check and the vet thinks she detected a heart murmur. Has anyone experienced this with their grey? This particular vet in my group is a bit of an alarmist and she's not my favorite, I tolerate her because I want her to learn about greyhounds. any advice on greys and heart conditions? This is the first I've heard of this.
Thanks!

I have had a couple of greys where the vet heard a heart murmur. Both times they rated it a '1' and said it was not necessary to do anything since it was a one but they would keep an eye (ear) on it. If it had been graded higher like a 3 or 4 they would have recommended I have an ultrasound and proceed from there.

I forget the number but a large percentage of humans have a heart murmur. I have one and the thing I have to remember is to take antibiotics before a dental cleaning. And for some surgeries.

My 16yr old has had one since I have had her at 4. The vets that have heard it say that it was slight - also sometimes it was hard for the vet to hear due to the way that the grey breaths. She has not had to be on any medication for it and really has not had any hard times from it.
I agree I would see what the vet recommends on how to proceed and take it from there.

Here's to good news. - fingers & paws crossed

sending you thougts and prayers that it is slight and you can just monitor it.

I emailed the vet with my concerns and she called back and told my hubby that it was a grade 2 murmur. She listened to her heart maybe 30 seconds to a minute. How do they determine what the grade is? I plan to call her today and get more info. Lindey is my hardy grey. She runs with great gusto and plays like crazy! She actually acts like a dog, I guess if that changes that's when I'll know her murmur has changed also. Any thoughts on this?

We have 2 cats that get a heart murmurs. Our cat vet thinks it's a link with there teeth being not clean. So we get them a dental the murmur goes away. With our one cat, when the murmur comes back, the vet checks her teeth, and yes, they need cleaning.
Maybe your pup needs a dental?

Amy, try not to worry. Many greyhounds can have have a mild heart enlargement and a mild heart murmur that is normal. The murmur is known as an "athletic heart murmur" or physiologic flow murmur. They are mild in nature (a grade 1 or 2 out of a possible 6) and can best be heard over the left base of the heart. See question 2 on this link from Ohio State for more info:

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This is also referred to in Dr. William Feeman's "Greyhound Medical Idiosyncracies", which is a valuable document for greyhound owners old and new:

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Canine cardiologist, Dr. Tilley says in this article,

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"Greyhounds have “totally different heart values”, particularly in relation to ultrasound testing, and cannot be compared to other breeds".

Everything is probably fine, but do let us know what you find out!

Cynthia, thanks for the links. I added them to the "Sticky" in the Medical Section.