OSoSwift Posted July 18, 2010 Share Posted July 18, 2010 When I had Lewis in getting his vaccination and check over the vet asked me if he was very fit. I said that yes he was fit, but I would not class him as fit as a race fit grey or Whippet. The reason she asked. His heart rate was very slow. So that got me to thinking. Is his heart slower because he is a sighthound or a Whippet in particular. Is it because he is very fit or fitter than I though? So..... What is your dogs resting Heart rate? What is your dogs breed? How fit would you class them? I.e average, not very fit, very fit, super fit Lewis's RHR is around 38 to 40 and his respiration when snoozing next to me on the lounge is 11 breaths/minute or there abouts. Rommi is pretty much the same. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
anniek Posted July 18, 2010 Share Posted July 18, 2010 (edited) The resting heart rate of a greyhound is 23-50 beats a minute. It can increase to 300-360 beats a minute during intense activity! If your vet is not used to sighthounds, he/she may be marvelling at something that is normal! Edited July 18, 2010 by anniek Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OSoSwift Posted July 18, 2010 Author Share Posted July 18, 2010 (edited) I figured it may be a sighthound thing due to Rommi being the same, but I have no idea what say a Border Collies resting heart rate is, or a Pug or anything else really. To check my Staffords would be completely unreliable as he is on that many heart medications it is anything BUT normal - poor old bugger Oh and do the Greys that are race fit tend to have the 25Bbpm heart rate and say the fit pets have the 50bpm??? Edited July 18, 2010 by Rommi n Lewis Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
anniek Posted July 18, 2010 Share Posted July 18, 2010 I think it is to do with size - the RHR of small dogs is around 70 - 90 - maybe our vet DOLer's will come in and help. I'm just used to greys, and helping adopters with "heath issues" if they have gone to a non grey vet Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paulp Posted July 18, 2010 Share Posted July 18, 2010 Both my dogs have resting HR around 55-60. One is a 24kg female lab, the other a 31 kg male lab X GR. I think both are reasonably fit, they are certainly very active during the day doing frantic zoomies and Ebon competes in flyball and is quite quick for a big dog. What gets me about their pulse is the variation with breathing, it is like three quick beats, three slow beats. I would expect pulse to vary with size of dogs, smaller dogs will tend to have faster pulse rates (this is a trend across all mammal species) and also with fitness. As an animals fitness increases the amount of blood the heart pumps with each beat increases so it does not have to pump as hard to maintain a given blood flow. There would probably also be a relationship with the function for which a dog is bred, I would expect greyhounds to have slower pulse rates, even unfit ones, as selecting for improved aerobic performance would be selecting for hearts with larger stroke volumes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OSoSwift Posted July 19, 2010 Author Share Posted July 19, 2010 Thanks for you reply - I was thinking if the smaller the dog the higher the heart rate, then a Whippet would have a higher heart rate then your Labs. I am guessing that being a sighthound they have a lower heart rate than a dog of comparable size. Very interesting. The increase in heart rate when breathing is interesting, but ours does that a bit as well. Maybe that is why Whippets and Greys are just so good at laid back! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FHRP Posted July 19, 2010 Share Posted July 19, 2010 I just did a quick pulse check of my 8 year old Vizsla and his rate while laying on the couch mext to me was 42 beats per minute. An active agility dog he is what I consider very fit. I would expect a slightly faster rate at the vets though and my Whippets heart races while at the vet as he does not like being there. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dandybrush Posted July 19, 2010 Share Posted July 19, 2010 i dont know my dogs resting rate but last time we went to the vet they said he was the equivalent of a human marathon runner, must have been very slow he is a koolie x bc and was 1.5yrs old at the time Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dagmar Posted July 19, 2010 Share Posted July 19, 2010 When I had Lewis in getting his vaccination and check over the vet asked me if he was very fit.I said that yes he was fit, but I would not class him as fit as a race fit grey or Whippet. The reason she asked. His heart rate was very slow. So that got me to thinking. Is his heart slower because he is a sighthound or a Whippet in particular. Is it because he is very fit or fitter than I though? So..... What is your dogs resting Heart rate? What is your dogs breed? How fit would you class them? I.e average, not very fit, very fit, super fit Lewis's RHR is around 38 to 40 and his respiration when snoozing next to me on the lounge is 11 breaths/minute or there abouts. Rommi is pretty much the same. I can understand that you are concerned. There is a guideline reg. normal resting heart rates as follows: Cats: 120-240 bpm Kittens: 200-300 bpm Small dogs: 90-180 bpm Medium dogs: 70-110 bpm Large dogs: 60-90 bpm Puppies: up to 220 bpm Saying that, it obviously depends on the size of the heart of the dog which can be related to fitness or not. Rommi's respiration rate is absolutely normal and if he appears fine and the vet is not further concerned, I would not be. I have 2 dogs, same breed, same gender, same weight, same age - different heart rate and respiration rate. How did you check the heart rate? Or was that number given to you by the vet? Dagmar Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
whippets Posted July 19, 2010 Share Posted July 19, 2010 I'd say your vet isn't use to sighthounds. Some even flip out with arrythmic (at rest) hearts. Which is normal. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pie Posted July 19, 2010 Share Posted July 19, 2010 I remember our vet commenting on my Tenterfield's low resting heart rate when he was younger, he is an active dog, have no idea what the number was though. Now I'm going to go home and check Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OSoSwift Posted July 19, 2010 Author Share Posted July 19, 2010 (edited) I am not concerned, more interested. I start think about things like that and think, I wonder?????? I have seen others comment about vets worrying about slight arrythmias etc in Whippets that are considered very normal for a Whippet. My dogs are fit, but not race fit by any stretch of the imagination. The heartrate is what I have checked, they didn't give me a number. I have checked it over a few different occasions as I like to know what normal is so I can tell when it is not normal. I have used a stethoscope and a femoral pulse. They do see a few Whippets at the vet hospital, a couple in particular quite a lot! So I would have thought that they would be used to a Whippet, but I guess they see lots of other dogs so may not think about or remember what the other Whippets HR's are. Edited July 19, 2010 by Rommi n Lewis Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
whippets Posted July 19, 2010 Share Posted July 19, 2010 Dr Jim Gannon (A retired grey race vet) wrote a very interesting article about the fast and slow muscle twitch fibre difference between race greys (I'd also put whippets into this category) and other breeds of dogs. If I can find the article I'll post it. There was also another article re the difference between greys and saluki's (who are much better over longer distances). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mas1981 Posted July 19, 2010 Share Posted July 19, 2010 My labs resting heart rate is low 50's, my vet says he must be very fit and I think he is as I exercise him daily. He is 34Kg and 15 months old. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stormie Posted July 19, 2010 Share Posted July 19, 2010 Personally I'd probably flip out if any dog had a heart rate of 38-40! I, nor my vet, are regularly seeing sighthounds, but those we have seen have not had a heart rate that low! So I'd be one thinking that that is abnormal for a regular pet dog, sight hound or not and would probably want an ECG. But then, if sighthound people think that's normal, then perhaps it is! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OSoSwift Posted July 19, 2010 Author Share Posted July 19, 2010 They are both like that and are from completetly different lines so I am not too worried about any heart issues. I do remember reading an article about slow and fast muscle twich fibres in horses, eg between a Clyde and a Thoroughbred. It was very interesting, I will look for the one about dogs. if you find it Whippets I would love to read it. Oh and that is their heart rates when they are "resting" ie passed out on the lounge next to me, so that is about as resting as it gets. If one was very low and the other not then I might be worried. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OSoSwift Posted July 19, 2010 Author Share Posted July 19, 2010 Just found an old thread about this Old thread re a dog low heart rate Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shmoo Posted July 19, 2010 Share Posted July 19, 2010 During times of stress the heart rate can increase. I learnt during study that, on occasion, a dog may present in a vet clinic with a higher than average heart rate simply due to the stress of being at the vets. One could conclude that perhaps vets do not have an accurate representation of a 'healthy heart rate' due to this...? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OSoSwift Posted July 19, 2010 Author Share Posted July 19, 2010 Very good point Shmoo. Lewis is very laid back and couldn't care less if he is at the vets or not, so while I expect his heart to be slightly higher due to moving around etc, I wouldn't expect it to be significant, so maybe the fact he is a Whippet and also very laid back means it was quite a bit lower than they are used to?? Rommi does get excited when she goes as she loves everyone there an is looking for the puppies from puppy preschool, so hers could quite llikely be a bit higher than his?? Interesting Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stormie Posted July 20, 2010 Share Posted July 20, 2010 During times of stress the heart rate can increase. I learnt during study that, on occasion, a dog may present in a vet clinic with a higher than average heart rate simply due to the stress of being at the vets. One could conclude that perhaps vets do not have an accurate representation of a 'healthy heart rate' due to this...? For sure - it's the same with body temp too - a healthy dog can have a slightly higher temp during a consultation due to excitment, stress etc. But what about during anaesthesia? You can tell, to an extent, the depth of anaesthesia by the heart rate. Once an animal is properly anaesthetised to an appropriate depth, they have a 'normal' heart rate. I would think that the data an dog/breed average heart rate would have been collected on 'resting' animals - ie animals in a relaxed, resting situation. But really though, the guides that we have for 'average' resting heart rate are just that - guides. It's a matter of knowing what your dog's normal heart rate is really. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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