How old is to old...

[Dontgiveamonkeys1350]

I’m going away for 2.5 weeks in the summer. My mum is looking after my gorgeous boy.
Today she asked me about what I would want to do if something happens when I’m away.

He is 11. He has a heart murmur.
I asked her to let me think about it.

I’m not sure operating on a cat with a heart murmur is a good idea?
At what age do u say don’t mess about with them?

How serious is the heart murmur? Harry is 14 has a grade 1 murmur and, depending on what the long prognosis was was, I would operate on him.

Depends what is wrong with them. If it's a curable problem and it's an innocent murmur then I would operate/ treat. 11 isn't particularly old.

The late Fatty had jaw surgery with a murmur. Turned out later that she had very severe heart disease. But she needed the surgery and was fine afterwards.

My old girl was 19 when we lost her.
I wouldn’t go by age but by quality of life and likelihood of success I wouldn’t put any cat through a lengthy and painful recovery process if it wasn’t likely to be successful.

We routinely do surgery on old cats (15 upwards) if it will help them to either life a longer (good) life or to improve their quality of life. So I don't think a cat is ever to old for surgery per se; it's just a question of the pros and cons. I don't know about heart murmurs, but I'm sure your vet would advise.

I don't see much point in making decisions before anything has happened - just take situations as they arise with advice from your vet.

11 isn't old! It's the equivalent of 60 in human years.
Cats can live with years with a heart murmur. I wouldn't worry too much. Any problems whilst you're away it is easy to be in touch with your vet nowadays.

The vet's question is, "Is he having more bad days than good days?"

What is 'old' for a cat? Both of mine are approaching 16, but you wouldn't know it.