Irregular Heart Beat?

Bella's heart beat really concerns me. When she cuddles next to me, I feel her heart beat and it seems as if it skips a beat or two beats, and then it'll speed up really fast so randomly. For a minute or two, it'll be beating at a regular pace, then it'll skip some beats or speed up really fast. It's never normal for longer than a minute or two. Does anybody know what might be causing this? It's been going on since she was a puppy, and I've finally decided to set up a vet appointment to get it checked out along with other health issues that have suddenly come to my attention.

Bella also has developed an aggression problem. It started totally out of nowhere where she's snapped and bit my brother, the cats, and our other dog. In my experience, sudden aggression has almost always led to a health problem which further concerns me about Bella's irregular heart beat.

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Permalink Reply by Sam Tsang on November 13, 2009 at 7:03pm

irregular heart beat can be caused many things, if you have a stethoscope, listen to his heart, if there is a whooshing sound, that is blood flowing back to the chamber due to a leaky defect valve. It is better to leave the diagnoses to your vet tho. Good luck!

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Permalink Reply by John Wolff on November 13, 2009 at 11:14pm

Ask a vet. I mentioned my dogs' irregular heartbeat to my boss, an M.D., and she straighway replied, "Yeah, dogs' heartbeats are regulated by a different mechanism -- they're not regular like humans'."
Is this true?

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Permalink Reply by Joanna Kimball on November 15, 2009 at 5:00am

All dogs have irregular heartbeats. They slow and speed up with their breathing. So it's definitely not anything I'd worry about. If there are other issues that have you concerned, ask for a check, but the only heart irregularity that I've ever been aware of being a clinical problem is atrial fibrillation, which is very uncommon in corgis and you wouldn't be able to feel with your hand anyway.

If she's suddenly being more reactive, I'd check for pain and talk about remediation, but I doubt it's the heart.

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Permalink Reply by Alice on November 17, 2009 at 5:37pm

I was going to say something along the same lines as Joanna's comment. I’ve noticed Finn's hear seems to skip a beat but the pattern changes with their breathing and sometimes when he inhales the rate slows making it seem like a beat was skipped. I would not be concerned if the dog is otherwise fine. Bring it up the next time you are at the vet just to put your mind at ease.