Pet echocardiograms

[Anonymous]

Just took my almost 10yr. dog to the Vet and was told she has a heart murmur.

They said she needs to get a Echocardiogram done.

She doesn't have any ill symptoms and is an active dog.

Has anyone done this for their pet? The cost for the Echo test is $500. Yikes!

[Anonymous]

Yes! It's noninvasive and very quick and doesn't require sedation. I had a dog with heart disease and he was monitored with periodic echos over the years. The folks at the local branches of CVCA, the cardiac specialist practice in the area, are SO NICE, both the techs and the vets.

[Anonymous]

I had a few for my dog with a heart murmur. Non invasive. I had to leave her there all day though because the cardiologist didn't make appointments with my vet's office, just showed up at some point during the day specified.

[Anonymous]

Previous PP here. If you go to CVCA, they are very good with appointments and the whole thing doesn't take more than half an hour.

Don't panic about heart disease, either. Heart murmurs are often very slowly progressing and might not indicate anything that will become a problem in your dog's lifetime. If there is an issue, there are inexpensive meds for many heart ailments. It would be good to go ahead and get the echo as a baseline evaluation to see what's up, but it's not an emergency.

[Anonymous]

Also took my dog for an echo at cvca. It was very easy. They let me pet him and soothe him while they did the test (which was very easy).

[Anonymous]

CVCA now charging over $900 for an echo. INSANE

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Previous PP here. If you go to CVCA, they are very good with appointments and the whole thing doesn't take more than half an hour.

Don't panic about heart disease, either. Heart murmurs are often very slowly progressing and might not indicate anything that will become a problem in your dog's lifetime. If there is an issue, there are inexpensive meds for many heart ailments. It would be good to go ahead and get the echo as a baseline evaluation to see what's up, but it's not an emergency.

I echo everything this PP said. We went to CVCA and while it was pricey (close to $1000 for the echo and the apt) they were extremely kind, efficient, and reassuring.