Kayla is fine, Thank God!!!

[Gillian]

We finally found a Vet that we are happy with. She was highly recommended by several people, and very difficult to get to see. We waited all morning for our turn. Well she did blood tests and xrays {two} one after giving Kayla some chalky stuff to drink.
Everything is good. There is nothing wrong with her . The Vet said that she had a virus and it was almost gone. The antibiotics gave her stomach acid, poor thing, thats why she was so miserable.
And guess what. No heart murmer. Thank God!!
Thank you all for your kind thoughts, prayers and support.
Gillian

[Karlin]

That's great news on all fronts.

But please keep in mind a vet cannot guarantee that there's no heart murmur -- they simply have neither the training nor equipment to be able to give any guarantee of this sort. Only a cardiologist has the ability to give an assured analysis in that matter. That's why a vet assessment is not acceptable for breeding purposes under the heart protocols -- it must be a cardiologist who gives the all-clear.

Here's a chart that demonstrates the disparity between what vets can hear and what cardiologists pick up. What is shows is that until dogs are aged 6 or so -- which is when half will have some sort of murmur, of a higher grade than at younger ages -- vets fail about half to two thirds of the time in hearing an existing murmur. That means any dog has only a one in two to one in three chance of having a vet hear an existing murmur:

[judy]

Have Kayla's symptoms gone away now? I hope so. Glad you have a vet you like.

What constitutes "heart clear" for breeding purposes? Does it just mean that a board certified cardiologist listened to the heart and heard no murmur, or does it include echocardiogram?

[Gillian]

In Malta we do not have vet cardiologists and they do not do echo cardiograms on dogs.
The vet we went to is a Vetrinary Surgeon. She is German. I know that they prob dont have the equipment but at least she did examine her carefully and said she did not hear any heart murmer while the other vets said they did. The xrays she took showed that the heart is normal size.
Thats the best we can do , I am afraid as there are not further facilities.