cat heart murmur

[burninglikefire]

Hi,

One of my cats has been detected with a grade 2 heart murmur at his yearly check up/vaccination. This is a bit of a shock to me because he seems fine, so I am slightly freaked out!

I will get the blood test and heart scan sorted. Can anyone else tell me about their experience of heart murmurs in cats?

Thanks

My cat had a heart murmur and it was found during a routine checkup. This was over a decade ago, he unfortunately passed away 3 weeks ago from cancer at the age of 19 years and 2 months.

So it’s good it was picked up and it needs to be monitored. My cats murmur did get worst as he aged however it didn’t slow him down, he was never on any medication for it and he was a very happy cat.

Oh, thank you - that is reassuring!

It's definitely worth looking into, and the heart scan will tell you more.
But I believe heart murmurs are not uncommon in cats, and can even be a result of stress rather than a medical cause. I think a lot of heart conditions can be asymptomatic, and managed with medication.

Two of mine have had heart murmurs picked up - the 6 year old didn't have a scan, but the murmur hasn't been picked up since. The 8 year has had a scan which came back "clear", although the murmur is still present.
Both seem completely fine, and the younger one especially still tears around like a mad thing!

I may bring our older girl in for an annual heart scan to check nothing has changed, but tbh I probably won't do anything further with the 6 year old beastie unless anything further gets picked up.

Good luck with the bloods and scan, though, and I hope all is well! I'll keep my fingers crossed for you and DCat!

My cat was diagnosed with a heart murmur when she was 5 and is now 19. This year she went onto some drugs for her high blood pressure but other than that it never affected her at all.

My 6 year old cat has had this. Been picked up on two routine vet visits for just vaccinations or flea treatments etc

I've done the sum total of nothing. She detests the vets and always panics and wees when there so the thought of taking her for a heart scan doesn't fill me with glee. She's completely healthy and happy and full of life so there's no way I'd consider medicating her

If she was to show any signs whatever of being unwell then yes, I'd have her scanned etc. But for now, I won't be putting her through any trauma

Thank you everyone for sharing your experience. DCat is booked in for the blood test on Monday. Think I will also get him to have the scan. Unfortunately, we will have to travel the best part of an hour to get to the place that does the scan and DCat is not a fan of car travel.

On a related note, I have another cat. Let's call them DCat (white) and DCat (black), DCat (white) being the one with the heart murmur. Today is the first time DCat (white) has been anywhere without DCat (black). On our return, DCat (black) followed DCat (white) around sniffing him and then hissing at him. I did separate them, but was surprised. Has anyone else experienced this? If it is relevant, they are indoor cats. They have settled down now - in fact DCat (white) has slept almost all day.

Really good to hear that several cats have had many years of happy life after a heart murmur has been detected.

I knew my cat had a heart murmur, but no one was particularly concerned about it. Until I accidentally found out it was grade 4. I was very annoyed no one told me it was that bad. Turned out she had horrendous HCM. But she did really well on medication and was completely asymptomatic, until her kidneys packed up. Probably as a result of the large doses of diuretics. And she was PTS. She was a superstar at taking her tablets and it didn't affect her quality of life at all.

Because Maia had it, I had her sister scanned. She has thickening of her septum. And has 6 monthly scans. I suspect it may be age related as I think she's older than originally thought.

The hissing is very common. When there were two of them - my other cat died a couple of years ago - when one went to the vet the other would hiss on their return. Its because they smell different after being at the vet.
They soon get over it.

My dog has a heart murmur it doesn't seem to bother him, he's fit and healthy apart from that. X

Also he doesn't need medication. X

@copperoliver cats are fortunately not small dogs the condition that causes heart murmurs in cats is very different to the conditions that cause heart murmurs in dogs. Though multiple studies now show that assessing the cause of the murmur in both cats and dogs and checking for heart enlargement which if present medication should be started for has shown to dramatically increase quantity and quality of life.

In regards to the hissing that's normal. One of my ragdolls walks on the lead and when he returns the girl raggie is very annoyed hissing at him. He went to the vets Monday and again she was annoyed when he returned. It soon settles back down.

Our cat was diagnosed at 7 months. He takes medication & it hasn't got any worse over the years. He is 13 now. I am aware it often results in sudden death, though, which makes me anxious.

Mine has one. Always has. It has no impact on his life. Doesn’t take tablets is all fine. Currently 11 years old. Grade two