Recommended Approach To Older Dogs With Heart Murmurs When Echocardiography Is Not an Option

This session will focus on helping the primary care clinician determine the clinical relevance of a heart murmur in older dogs with presumed myxomatous (degenerative) mitral valve disease. It will discuss treatment recommendations for asymptomatic dogs (i.e., starting a cardiac medication such as pimobendan) based on thoracic radiographic findings, an NT-proBNP, or both. This session will also discuss when starting furosemide is most appropriate for dogs with clinical signs such as cough. Lastly, anesthetic risk in these patients will be discussed from a cardiologist’s perspective. Presented by: Boehringer Ingelheim