By far, the most common heart problem seen in Rottweilers is called Sub-Aortic
Stenosis – or SAS for short. This disorder can range in severity from very mild to fatal. The term ‘stenosis’ refers to an obstruction near the valve of the aorta that causes a noise that is most often diagnosed as a heart murmur.

The Cause

We know that Aortic Stenosis is genetic, meaning that it is inherited from one or both of the parents. Unfortunately that is the extent of what is known about the cause of the disease.

The Diagnosis

Diagnosing the disease can be as puzzling as pinpointing the cause. The defect in the heart that is the signature of SAS is rarely if ever present at birth, often forming a few weeks later. When it is caught during routine examinations at your vet, it will be diagnosed as a heart murmur in the majority of cases.
Since the majority of Rottweilers with SAS will have a mild case, the good news is that they will likely lead a happy and normal life with no complications from the disease. In fact, only the most severe cases seem to have any major effect on the dog at all. Unfortunately SAS is most often not diagnosed until it has already caused sudden death.

It is a good idea to have your Rottweiler thoroughly examined by a cardiologist at least once a year, especially if your dog is older or has been previously diagnosed with a heart murmur or other heart-related issue. When a murmur does not go away when the puppy becomes an adult, an echocardiogram (with Doppler) may be called for, and these should always be given by a cardiologist experienced with larger breed dogs.

The Treatment

While no successful surgical options have been found to treat SAS, medication has proved itself to be helpful in managing the most severe cases of the disease. If your vet diagnoses your Rottweiler with SAS it is likely that he will recommend a prophylactic course of antibiotics as a precursor to any surgical or dental procedure due to a higher risk of endocarditis. Beta blockers may also be used to reduce the heart rate and lower the risk of sudden death in Rottweilers with more severe cases of SAS.

While the most common response to hereditary diseases among Rottweilers is to remove the affected dogs from the breeding pool, it has proven to be next to impossible in the case of SAS. Because there is no definitive DNA test for the disease there is virtually no way of diagnosing the mild cases.

Because the disease can be genetically transferred to all of the pups in a litter by any affected Rottweiler (there is no need for matching genes), those undiagnosed mild cases will continue to affect the breed until absolute tests for the disease have been successfully created.

SAS is frightening and can be extremely frustrating, and it is very important that you have a solid line of communication with your vet so that issues of this potential severity can be evaluated quickly and a course of action decided upon.