A heart murmur is an abnormal sound associated with your dog’s blood flow through the heart. Blood should normally flow smoothly through your dog’s heart in an orderly fashion. With a murmur, the blood flow is erratic or turbulent.

A heart murmur is a sign that your dog’s cardiovascular system is not working perfectly. By locating the area in the heart in which the murmur is loudest, and by observing the specific characteristics of the murmur, your vet can narrow down potential conditions causing the murmur.

A dog with a slight murmur will likely have no outward symptoms. Severe murmurs, however, can cause your dog to have congestive heart failure, meaning that your dog will appear weak, have difficulty breathing and cough.

A murmur may be the result of congenital heart defects such as pulmonic stenosis, aortic stenosis or a ventricular septal defect. Heart murmurs may also be associated with conditions and diseases ranging from heartworm disease and tumors to dental infections and anemia.

Your vet will diagnose the murmur by using a stethoscope to listen to your dog’s heart. To discover the underlying cause of the murmur, your vet will have to perform more diagnostic tests. These diagnostic tests may include blood work, x-rays, and electrocardiographs.

Treatment is based on treating the cause of the murmur. If your dog has congestive heart failure, specific medications will be prescribed to support your dog’s heart.

Congenital causes of heart murmurs can be prevented by not breeding afflicted dogs. The Orthopedic Foundation for Animals (OFA) is a non-profit organization dedicating to reducing the incidence of genetic and orthopedic diseases. The OFA has an open access database you can access online that grades the general cardiac health (by whether or not the dog has a heart murmur) of registered dogs used for breeding. Before acquiring a dog, you should check this database to see if your prospective dog's family has a history of cardiac health. If your prospective dog's family is not listed, you should inquire with the breeder as to why this is so. This is an important safeguard. Click here to visit the OFA website. Finally, taking measures to protect your dog against infections from heartworm to dental disease can also help prevent the development of heart murmurs.

No, you cannot get a heart murmur from your dog.