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Grade 7 down to Grade 3 ?

Sabby

Well-known member
When we were at paws in the park I was at the obedience tent and there was a lady with a cavalier that she rescued. We started talking about the health problems and I was telling her that my Ebony has a slight heart murmur and luxating patellas. Well I think what came next left me gob smacked. First of all she indirectly told me that my dogs are over weight. I agree that the girls could do with a bit of weight coming off but my Harley is skinny. I then pointed out that my dogs are not the size of a typical show cavalier. All three are a lot taller then any Cavalier I have met.
Then she said that when she got her rescue cavalier he was fat and had a grade 7 heart murmur. She said look how slim he is now and the vet said that his heart murmur is gone down to a grade 3.
She really must have thought that I am a stupid pet owner, I felt like saying if I be you I would change my vet or cardiologist. Am I right in thinking that there is no Grade 7 (the dog wouldn’t be alive?) and once it’s that higher grade even with the dog loosing weight the heart valve doesn’t repair itself? Once you are a certain grade it just won’t go down to a lower grade?
Then she started dismissing SM and I just mentioned C. Rusbridge and she just shut up.
 
... Am I right in thinking that there is no Grade 7 (the dog wouldn’t be alive?) and once it’s that higher grade even with the dog loosing weight the heart valve doesn’t repair itself? Once you are a certain grade it just won’t go down to a lower grade? ...

According to the grading system for the loudness of heart murmurs that I am familiar with, the highest grade is 6 (or VI, as the cardiologists like to refer to it). So, as far as I know, there is no grade 7.

As for grades going from higher numbers to lower ones, that is possible. And I think that obesity can play a factor in the loudness of the murmur. Although, I would think that excess fat, either around the heart or between the heart and chest cavity wall, would tend to muffle the sound and make it harder to hear. But it is possible for a grade 6 to go down to a grade 5 or even 4.

There have been instances where, as the dog's MVD progresses to the end stage, the grade goes down because the heart muscle has lost strength. This downgrade of the loudness of the murmur does not mean the dog has improved. It means the opposite.
 
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