Whippet Heartbeats.

[Sarsanet]

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If you go to the topic of Whippets in Wikipedia it says under the heading "Health"

Quote. The heart of a whippet is large & slow beating, often being arrhythmic or even intermittent when the animal is at rest. This sometimes causes concern to the owner, or to the vet not experienced with the breed. Whippets will, however, demonstrate a regular heartbeat during exercise. In a health survey conducted by The Kennel Club (UK) cardiac problems were shown to be the second leading cause of mortality in Whippets. It is not clear, whether this is at all related to the breed's somewhat unusual heart function. unquote.

I have been involved with whippets for over 20 years now but I have never heard any of this or experienced it. Can anyone verify if any of this is true? Do normal, healthy whippets commonly have arrhythmic hearts?

Your comments greatly appreciated.

Gail.

 

[talisman]

Hi

I can only talk about my own whippet as she is the first one i have ever had and she does have a funny heartbeat. I was a complete wreck when she sat on my knee and i felt it as I really thought she had a heart problem. I checked on the net and found this was common. She has been checked by a vet to and all is ok but what a fright I got.

Hers is slow and does feel like it misses beats. Dont know the technical name for it lol. She is very healthy and fit apart from being a bit on the thin side so not worried about it.

Wendy

 

[Eceni]

I think what they're referring to is called 'sinus arrhythmia' and it occurs in all highly fit animals - humans, racehorses and some (tho' not all) sighthounds - those that are fit enough. My lurcher showed it at peak fitness. Now that she's old and less fit (bunny hunting happens mainly in her sleep), she has normal sinus rhythm.

It's a normal physiological reaction to the increase in heart muscle that takes place when these animals are taken to racing/competition/working fitness. It goes away when the individual is exercise, startled or put under stress (that is, when the sympathetic nervous system kicks in with rising adrenaline and nor-adrenaline)

It's not to be confused with the mitral valve murmurs that seem to occurs in some lines of whippets when they reach around 7 years old - those are NOT physiologically normal and may be related to early deaths in affected individuals.

hope that helps

manda scott (mrcvs)

 

[Sachiko]

I've been "in the breed" for a year so my experiences are quite thin. But I did heard that sometimes vets mistakenly think that there is something wrong with whippet's hearbeats because it is a bit different than "normal" dogs. That's why you should always get wider examinations than just listening the heart, because the vet might be doing a mistake there. Don't know if this is true, tough, since I do not have any personal experience with this.

 

[maggie217]

I think there have been threads on here before, when people have been worried by inexperenced vets reaction to a whippet puppy's 'abnormal' heartbeat. However it seems that when the puppy is seen by a vet who is used to sight hounds the owner is usually re-assured that the heartbeat is quite normal.

In my experience of endurance horses, the very fit horses would often show 'dropped' heartbeats when undergoing the post-ride vet examination.

In my own case, when I underwent an eye operation recently, the only background sound during the surgery, was my heart-beat. It was quite disturbing to notice that every few beats one would be missed. However, the surgeon seemed unperturbed and I did know about the horses dropped heartbeats so I tried not to worry. Strange exprerience though especially as I no longer have the high level of fitness that I once had.

Pauline

 

[Sarsanet]

I think there have been threads on here before, when people have been worried by inexperenced vets reaction to a whippet puppy's 'abnormal' heartbeat.  However it seems that when the puppy is seen by a vet who is used to sight hounds the owner is usually re-assured that the heartbeat is quite normal.
In my experience of endurance horses, the very fit horses would often show 'dropped' heartbeats when undergoing the post-ride vet examination.

In my own case, when I underwent an eye operation recently, the only background sound during the surgery, was my heart-beat.  It was quite disturbing to notice that every few beats one would be missed.  However, the surgeon seemed unperturbed and I did know about the horses dropped heartbeats so I tried not to worry.  Strange exprerience though especially as I no longer have the high level of fitness that I once had.

Pauline

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I can't tell you how grateful I am to receive your comments. Thank you all very much.

Gail.

 

[lewington]

Very interesting discussion!

My Gemma Rose (who is a very fit girl) has always had an arhythmic heart beat at rest. Vet was in the know and re-assured that it was 'normal'. Have noticed that the pup Sophie drops a beat here & there also.

ps - Hi Gail

(we met at Healeville whippet day) a while ago - I have the black and white pup by Uno out of Electra.