What is the youngest you guys have done cardiac Echo's on pups ?? Is 16-17 weeks too young?

OFA requires the dog to be at least 12 months old to get a #

You can still get an echo on a puppy that age if it is warranted though, for information gathering. If he/she has TVD or another heart abnormality, it will certainly be detectable at that age.

I've had one done on a 7 week old, as well as color Doppler, to diagnose a congenital heart defect (SAS). A couple of areas on his chest had to be shaved and he was sedated. He came through it just fine, if that is your concern with the procedure?

Had Carrie color doppler echoed at 15 weeks with no shaving or sedation, so that may not be needed, depending on the pup. She laid still on her side for them for at least 30-45 minutes, with multiple interns clustered around to see the echo, and talking, etc. Would not have had it done that early except for the big murmur present.

One reason to wait is that occasionally a puppy will have a small ventricular septal hole that can close up at up to two years of age. If the echo is done very early and that is on it another will need done later to determine if it closed.

Another potential is is that puppies may not have all of the classic indicators of say, TVD, when they are tiny. For example, it takes time for the heart to enlarge, the older the dog the worse its heart could look. My thought is that you might get more equivocals in a very young pup, because signs are not as pronounced as they will be later, but don't know if this would be true?

But, if you can afford to do an early one and a later official one if needed then I say go for it.

The ONLY benefit for doing a cardiac echo prior to the dog being fully grown (not just at the minimum age for a clearance, i.e 12 months) is to see if there is a cardiac abnormality present. An early screening which does not show physical abnormalities within the heart does NOT indicate if your dog's heart will be *normal* as an adult as changes can and often do occur as the dog matures. There is no *clearance* that can be issued for cardiac evaluations prior to 12 months. A vet can perform a preliminary evaluation, but that is all. If someone wishes to screen their dog's heart prior to 12 months, fine and good, but it is NOT a clearance. Neither ARCH nor OFA (nor their screening cardiologists) will issue a *clearance* unless that echo was performed at 12 months or later. My cardiologist says to wait until 18 months.

Thank you all for your replies. I was debating on if there was any reason for doing heart clearance at this age as we have a cardiologist coming (doesn't happen often) and I was wondering if it would be viable to do the pup now or not.

Thanks again