my cat has a heart murmur :-(

[bringnbuy]

took my cat for her yearly mot/injection and to my complete surprise vet said she has a heart murmur although he said quite mild, may have been born with it, on a scale of bad 1-6 he said she is about 2. still upset though. he is going to do a blood test to see if it is thyroid related. we have only had her for a year (rescue cat), gutted really, was hoping she would be one of those cats that lives to be really old, doubt it now. anyone else have a cat with a heart murmur?

[ClaimedByMe]

My sisters cat has just been diagnosed with a heart murmer, she is older maybe about 12 maybe older, she is a rescue cat too, hers is thyroid related and the vet has put her on a special diet, they wanted to try this first its quite a new thing, she has only been on the special food for about 5 or 6 weeks now and has already put on weight and her blood results were normal.

[Taffeta]

We got our cat from a rescue place and were told by rescue vet at 6 weeks he had a heart murmur, did we still want him? She said his life expectancy may be limited, or not.

6 months later the heart murmur had gone. He grew out of it. He's 3 now.

[pepperrabbit]

Yes, mine's had a heart murmur for at least 6/7 years?
She's nearly 15 now - she does have hyperthyroidism and tablets now, apparently only one functioning kidney and her weight, over the years has fluctuated as wildly as Fern brittens.
She has a very good quality of life considering and has only had the hyperthyroid thing for 9 months or so.

[dikkertjedap]

Our stray cat had a heart murmur plus lots of other problems. He had two thyroid operations and all kind of medication. In the end he died of cancer (PTS as his quality of life suddenly severely deteriorated), he was 18 years.

[dikkertjedap]

Our cat was diagnosed with heart murmur when he was 3 BTW. So with a bit of luck, your cat may still have a good and long life ahead of her.

[Lonecatwithkitten]

Friends cat had 6/6 heart murmur 13 years later the cat has made 4 intercontinental flights.
To quote one of the top UK Veterinary cardiologists most cats diagnosed with heart murmurs young live long and happy lives and die of something completely different.

[HazeltheMcWitch]

So does mine. It's not that rare - I sort of remember 1/10, but that migt be wrong. That's not meant to sound snippy, btw, just saying it's not as bad as you think!

So I was told that my 10yo cat has a murmur when I took him for his boosters. It was a very nice new vet, who did a good check of him and said 'I don't see any mention of his murmur in his notes... has anyone ever mentioned it before?' They hadn't.

But oddly, a veyr similar thing happened to me a month earlier when I was at drs... It seems I too have a heart murmur that no one had EVER MENTIONED. I'm 35 and have had a lot or drs appts!

Anyway, all it really means is when you listen to the heart, you can hear a slightly abnormal whooshing sound. In vast majority of cases that's it - it's just a sound, no problems, no issues, no real cause other than a slightly abnormal shape. But in a very few cases it might indicate a problem, and so they might check it out.

Neither my cat nor me have any issues with our murmurs! we're just special Hope that puts your mind at rest a bit.

[bringnbuy]

thanks alot for your posts. vet said that with her murmur at level 2 all we should do is get her checked out a couple of times a year (assuming there is no thyroid connection which he will check when he takes out her two teeth in two weeks). he is a really nice vet, the vet surgery is lovely, far far nicer than the one we went to up until recently, so good to have a good vets to go to. our cat seems so happy (contented), can't do any more for her than we do. important thing (aside from her health) is to make sure she is happy by giving her lots of love and all things good. i feel better for your posts, thanks alot :)

[Fluffycloudland77]

I'm sure I read somewhere that due to their relaxed lifestyle cats cope well with this sort of thing.

[Maud2011]

Hello Bringnbuy, my cats both have heart murmurs and they are aged 17 and 18. The younger one has been on meds for hyperthyroidism for the last 3 years, but they are both doing pretty well. I'm sure you have many happy years ahead with your cat and I'm very glad to hear you've got a good vet - that makes such a difference.