Kitten has heart murmur found at spay

[Puzzledandpissedoff]

Oh god I'm in a complete panic ...

Took Holly and Ivy, our female 23 week old kittens for spaying this morning, and the vet's just called to say Ivy has a heart murmur!!! She says she still needs to be spayed but that they're going to be very careful with the anaesthetic, etc

Of course I'm worried sick she won't even make it through the surgery, or die soon afterwards; there's no way we could have known about this as she seems in perfect health on a day to day basis

Has anyone had a kitten spayed under these circumstances? Is there any real chance of her making it?

Thanks for asking, Cosie - they're absolutely fine; a little tired perhaps, but apart from that you honestly wouldn't know they'd had anything done unless you were told (and noticed the shaved areas of course)

Interesting that they send them home with painkiller medication now - they didn't do that when we had our last one spayed years ago - and those cone-shaped collars to stop them licking the wounds. It's a good job they're leaving the stitches alone because they will not wear the collars!!

Just the 10 day check to go now, together with a bit more fact finding ...

I suspect that pain relief is one of the areas of veterinary medicine that has come on in leaps in recent years.

Glad they're doing OK.

I think you're right, Cosie TBH they don't really seem to need it, but I'm giving it anyway - I'd rather avoid discomfort for them than have to address it once they're in pain, if that makes sense

That makes complete sense.
Your kitties are obviously better behaved than mine. One of them removed her cone and chewed off the glue. She had to be stapled! Ouch!
And I was watching them. She must have done it when I was doing tea.
Now fully recovered.

They can grow out of them. We adopted our cat from Battersea at 9 weeks. We were told when he was 7 weeks he had a heart murmur, did we still want him? Of course we did. It had disappeared by the time he was 10 weeks, so not sure if it was a mistake or if he just grew out of it.

He's 6 next week and fit as a fiddle.

If a heart murmur has been detected then it should be recorded on the clinical history and the vet should have discussed severity and type of murmur with you.

Heart murmurs are common in kittens and often they do grow out of them but some murmurs have possible future consequences. I'd be asking why there was no discussion or records?

Veterinari The vet who called before the op did mention they sometimes grow out of it - though at 23 weeks they wouldn't expect that to happen now - and that they'd monitor it at future check-ups; she also mentioned the possibility of a future ECG but warned they're very expensive. She didn't mention the grade or future consequences, and unfortunately I didn't know enough about it then to ask

But still, STILL there's apparently no record of any of this in the notes, which just doesn't make sense to me. As I said, I'll have to ask about it at her stitch removal ...