Hi Pam,

The murmur was the first thing i noticed and thats what made me get her checked out. Its a palpable murmur and i can even feel it when she lays on my feet. The strange thing is tho, she did not have when i adopted her in august. The vets before her adoption and two different vets after i adopted her didnt hear it. I started noticing it in January and she had her echo in February. The cardiologist said that it is most likely congenital and she had to have it her whole life but maybe it was more subtle. I dont know if i buy that. I could see one vet missing it but three or more vets? Other than the actual murmur she has no other symptoms right now so the vet wants to recheck in a year to see if it is staying stable or getting worse. Have you seen this in a dog so young before. Everything i have read said that when it is found in puppies it is bad and usually they only live a year or two. The cardiologist said that if it stays stays he does not think it will necessarily shorten her life. 

As for ner amputation site, it is normal color, not hard or painful, she lets me touch it and pet it no problem, the fur grew back and it is normal color. Just cool to tough. Maybe she just didnt make good collateral circulation when it was healing. Her amputation was done down south before i adopted her and healed before i got her. They didnt mention any healing issues but you never know. Thanks for you advice

Thanks for all your advice. Th cardiologist vet did not mention the ballon catheter but i had a human interventional cardiologist friend look at the echo report (which is very limited compared to the human ones im used to looking at) and we talked about options and he mentioned the ballon depending on exactly where the narrowing is. I wanted to be there is actually see the echo (i am a cardiovascular icu nurse and did a lot of time in the open heart icu so i know more than the average bear. Lol) but they said no owners allowed. The dog needs to stay calm and owners just get them excited. I did the echo at my regular get with a cardiologist that comes in and consults. I didnt get much time with him and he seemed annoyed that i was asking medical questions. I might go elsewhere for the followup echo in a year. I can send you the echo report that i got if that would give you more info. From my understanding it looks like the narrowing is above the valve not the valve itself. Like i said, she is completely asymptotic except for the palpable murmur. I guess she is very luck that she made it through two surgeries and anesthesia without it being diagnosed. So i know in humans what we look for but what should i be keeping and eye out for her? While she probably end up in heart failure? I am assuming that it will limit her down the line and that it will shorten her lifespan even tho the cardiologist said it wont. I make sure to keep her on the lean side anyway since she is a tripod. She gets no people food. She is on grain free dry. I have her on supplements to help with her mobility. She is on -

coconut oil with hemp seed oil, epa/dha, calcium and magnesium, miltiomega 3-6-9, boswellia and curcumin and glucosamine and chrondrotin

is there anything else preventive that i should put her on?

i did not know about her heart issues or other joint issues when i adopted her (and neither did the rescue). I thought i was just getting a front tripod. But her remaining front leg is deformed, her pelvis is tilted from being a tripod so she kinda bunny hops instead of walking on her back legs. But she gets around ok. I have a fenced yard and ramps so she doesnt have to do much work. She was a stray down south so the fact that she even made it put of the shelter is amazing to me. Dogs like her usually go right to the “back” so my plan is to give her the best live i can for whatever time i have her. If thats not 15 years then so be it but she is the happiest dog and loves life everyday. I really could learn a lot from her 😍

I know its hard to say but from your experience around what age do dogs start presenting with symptoms. I will message you her echo report. Is there anything i can do to help prevent symptoms. I know in humans we can start meds early to help try to prevent worsening heart failure even before symptoms. Do they do that in dogs or just treat as things come up? I paid $500 for the echo and really wish i would have gotten more time with the cardiologist. She is due for her vaccines and heartworm test in june so i am going to make a list of concerns and address them with my regular vet. My regular vet specializes in holistic medicine and she is conservative in her treatment of things which i like. She does just throw antibitoics and vaccines at everything. I really believe that the holistic protocal that we developed for my golden is why she survived her cancer for over two years.  I swear that having medical knowledge is not a blessing. If i learned anything from this site and treating my goldens cancer it was to just let them Be More Dog . I know i should just try to forget that she is different and just let her be a dog. Shes happy and she has no idea she is different. No one told her she has a severe heart problem and i think since she was amputated at such a young age she doesnt even remember not being a tripod. 

As far as the grain free food. I have done so much research that my head spins. My vet recommended testing taurine levels but i have read that is not a good predictor of problems. I have also not found much evidence based research (there goes that nurse in me again, its not good unless it’s evidence based. Lol) about feeding grain free to dogs that already have a pre-exisiting heart condition. Obviously i do not want to do anything that makes it worse. My 10 year old pit mix has ibs, probably chrons (even tho i have never put him thru a colonoscopy) and mast cell disorder. It took me a long time to find a food that he does well on. I feed pure balance grain free bison and venison. I started feeding my little one on it just because one food is easier but if i have to switch her then i will.