Information provided by breeders and referring veterinarians to owners of newly purchased puppies with a later confirmed congenital heart disease about the presence and meaning of a murmur

Abstract

All owners whose dogs were diagnosed with a congenital heart disease at the authors’ institution in a 1-year period received a questionnaire, after cardiac auscultation but before performing the echocardiogram. The main aims were to reveal whether the breeders had informed the new owners about the presence of a murmur before purchasing the puppy; and whether the owners would have still chosen to buy that specific puppy if they had known about a potentially present congenital heart disease. Of the 60 interviewed owners 72% would have refrained from buying the puppy if they had known about the presence of a congenital heart disease. However, only 23% of them were informed about the presence of a cardiac murmur before purchase. Most owners would have chosen to buy a healthy puppy if informed