Heart murmur question.

[Dontgiveamonkeys1350]

Just got back from taking my cat from the vets. And have been told he has a heart murmur grade three.
Kind of shook me if I’m honest. He will be 11 in May.
The vet said that he is fine for now and doesn’t need anything done.
But I wanted to know if anyone’s cat has this.?

She said he might needs tablets later on if I notice his breathing getting different.

I have insurance but wanted to know how much this would be if I couldn’t get the insurance so I can start putting some money away just incase

My heart feels broken. Poor boy.

I think that the medication, if he gets to the point of needing it, isn't very expensive. My cat couldn't tolerate the more sophisticated medication so was just on small doses of aspirin which was very cheap. I have had foster cats who had noticeable murmurs when very stressed (ie just picked up off the street) which reduced when they were more settled. The rescue doesn't investigate murmurs below level 4.

My own cat had a couple of scans to identify what type of cardiomyopathy he had (obstructing, if I recall correctly). They were covered by standard insurance. Right up to the end he was pretty much symptom free, ran around like an idiot getting into fights. once he declined it was very fast.

My cat was given a liquid to go in his food which he took without a problem. He had x rays and a heart scan and it was all covered by the insurance.

The current advice from feline cardiologists is that all cats with heart murmurs should be investigated and if there is evidence of disease they should receive treatment.

Lonecat it turned out that Harry has a grade 1 heart murmur, not heart failure as his previous vet told me before he had any tests. His current vet has said that as it's grade 1 there's no need for treatment. Should I be questioning that?

(Sorry to hijack your thread OP)

My late Persian was diagnosed with very severe HCM. She was on 8 tablets s day. Each visit to the cardiologist was about £600 inc medications.

She was completely symptom free and in the end it was her kidneys that failed. Probably due to the huge diesel of diuretics she was on.

My old boy was diagnosed with a heart murmur aged about 12. It then only manifested itself during every other trip to the vet. Never had any heart treatment and he lived to 20.
Hopefully your murmur will be similar.

@PinkSparklyPussyCat you have had tests and that has determined that no treatment is required. If on the tests we find enlarged heart chambers or thickened heart walks this is when we start treatment.