Cat with a heart murmur

Metranil_Vavin

Hi there.

I just wondered if anyone had any experience of having a cat with a heart murmur, and if it significantly can reduce their life?

We have a nearly 8 year old female cat who has been diagnosed with this. OH took her to the vets this morning for her booster jabs, and the vet said her heart murmur is 'significant', but we shouldn't worry unduly but she recommended we book her in for a scan to see if they can medicate her or find a treatment.

It will cost £500+, so we need to look into our insurance policy to see if it's covered, however I'm prepared to find the money to have this done anyway as I love her to bits and if there is something we can be doing to help, then it's worth the money as far as I'm concerned.

We had to put our other much loved cat to sleep in February, and we are still really devastated, so the thought of anything happening to Daisy just really upsets me

Any wise words would be much appreciated

rising_from_the_ashes

Ohhhhh Metranil Vavin (((hugs))) sorry no experience of this but wanted to just say .... (((hugs))) as I know how devastated everyone one was (and as you say still is) over losing Dave.

I do know that heart murmur's can vary hugely in their severity (both in humans and pets) and some don't need treatment and others do (sorry not very helpful).

Will be keeping my fingers crossed for the test results and (((hugs))) for Daisy too xx

Metranil_Vavin

Hi RFTA x

Thank you so much for your lovely post. I was so touched that you remembered me and our lovely boy Dave

We had him cremated and I still have his ashes. We are waiting for the summertime to sprinkle them in our garden, and OH is renovating the old bench we have that Dave used to love to sit on, in his honour. We are going to get a small plaque made for it with his name and born - died dates..soppy some may say, but he meant a lot to us.

I just want to try to do everything I can for Daisy as she is so dear to us.

She misses Dave loads too..he was like a big brother to her :A

scaredy_cat

my cat had a heart murmur, and she lived to 22 1/2 yrs.

About 8 yrs ago she went blind due to the murmur. It raised her bp and caused the vessels in her eyes to blow and her heart was working too hard and had become thickened. She was put on atenenol and istin and it sorted her heart out. she had 6 mth check up for her bp. About 2 yrs ago she developed kidney problems and was put on fortekor.

But apart from that, she was happy, she became a indoor cat when she was blind but still roamed the flat, climbed onto the bed and sofa and slept on the clothes mountain!!

Dollardog

I can't say I know much about heart murmers in cats, but my vet had been telling me for a few years that my dog had a murmer but it didn't need treatment. Then last year, it went up a couple of notches on the scale and he significanty slowed down. He didn't have a scan or anything but the vet decided to try him on Vetmedin, I don't know if that is just for dogs or if cats can have it too, but he has been a lot better since. The vet said that it evened out the heart rate and improved the quality of life as well as extending it.
He has a check up every time I go for more tablets and he is doing very well, his heart has evened out, it is beating very strongly and he is showing no signs at the moment of having any fluid on the lungs although he could develop that and need tablets to control it.

I've known dogs live for years with a murmer and the treatment these days has come a long way from when we first had a dog with one, that dog lived to be 15, but as I say, have no experience of cats with one, but I would think it is similar.

My dog's insurance covers his treatment and so I would think yours would cover it and the scan.
HTH

Metranil_Vavin

Thanks Dollardog.

Glad to hear your dog is doing well

vax2002

We were told our King Charles had a heart murmur that would be fatal within the year unless we bought this expensive medicine.
I did not fall for it one bit.
she lived to 18, the oldest ever know locally and was fit until her very last few days.

penny_pincha

Heart murmurs in cats are usually graded on a scale of 1 - 5. 1 being the minimum and 5 being the maximum.

You need to ask your vet what grade would your cat be on. Describing the murmur as 'significant' isn't really helpful in terms of how you might agree to any treatment.

You should definitely look at your insurance to see if you are covered for the scan. But ask the vet what your options are first and more to the point what are the likely rates of success. For example, if one of the options is surgery, you may not want to put your cat through that if the success rate is low.

Good luck and a special cuddle from me from a truly concerned cat lover.:)

freshseabreeze

I would check with a second vet before checking further.
Also, if your cat is very stressed it could increase the heart noise as well!
You could try to use this spray before going to the vet Feliway-Feline-Facial-Pheromone-Spray

It helped my cat to keep calmer. Try to reduce her stress during the drive and at the vet.
When they still hear something in a calmer setting, then you should check further.


I would probably be stressed too if you put me in cage. ; )

also try petforum for more info

Dollardog

Do they really need to scan her to find out of treatment would help? Sounds like cash tills ringing to me.
Is she showing any signs of the murmer affecting her, has she slowed down a lot, has she developed a cough?
I think I would take her to another vet for a second opinion.
It might even be less stressful if the vet came to the house. As other posters have said, the stress of being taken to the vets could affect the murmer and make it appear worse.
My dog slowed down a lot and had a cough sometimes that appeared as though he was trying to cough something up. The vet said this was when the heart enlarges and it presses on the trachia. It happened more when he had been lying down.
He didn't have a scan, the vet just said she would try him on the tablets for a couple of weeks to see if they made a difference, which they did, so he has stayed on them.
£500 seems a lot to me. I think I would go to a different practice for a second opinion before paying out that sort of money.

Lil_Me_2

My cat was diagnosed with a heart murmur 2 years ago when she was aged 20 months. We had her scanned at the time, then 6 months later, then 18 months later (last month). She's under the care of the cardiologist at our vets who is wonderful. The first scan was around £500 and subsequent ones £350.

The main problem with cats is that they hide the illness very well, so most of the time you're not aware (they very rarely develop a cough like dogs can). There was little change in the heart from the 1st to 2nd scan, but the 3rd scan highlighted significant thickening of the heart muscle. As such her heart is having to work harder to compensate. She had bloods taken which indicated that her heart is a little stressed as it's releasing a hormone, but the level is ok at the moment. Once the thickening reaches the left ventricle then we've agreed with the vet that she will go onto beta blockers to help reduce the stress on the heart.

We're using the scans to pin point the best time for her to start medication, and we'd rather do this than wait for her to become unwell as that could be too late. Fortunately we're covered by the insurance up to £4000 for the total condition. If she lives to 22 then we'll have a long time to pay out for meds, but I don't care 'cause she's my baby.

Worth noting that since we found out about it and the severity we have been able to make some adjustments to her life. We monitor her weight, breathing rate and reduce her stress levels as much as possible. I think I wrap her up in cotton wool a little! In the past I'll have kicked her out for a full day if the weather is nice, but we now take her lead on whether she wants to go out or not. She's a lot slower and sleeps more than she used to.