Uninsured kitty. Vet found a heart murmur... help!

[User4891]

Firstly please no shoulda/woulda/couldas about the insurance. I will do what's right by my cat either way so it is what it is...

He's only 3 and I took him for his jabs today. The vet says he's got a moderate murmur and needs a scan which will cost at least £300. He's then likely to need followup scans at least every year and maybe medication.

Does anyone have any experience of this? Firstly is my fur baby gonna be ok? And secondly does anyone have any tips how to make this not bankrupt us? I feel that having the scan is a bit of a no brainer. He's so young and I can't gamble with his health by ignoring it. However, I can't justify spending unnecessary money either. Thanks

Hm. My cat has a heart murmur. Vets weren't too concerned when they first discovered it. We've only had a scan some years later because she needed dental treatment and the vet was worried about her heart under general anaesthetic. He hasn't suggested yearly scans or medication.

Might it be worth getting a 2nd opinion? I'll be interested to see what others say on this. Mine has got to 14 without any issues but that could be luck of course.

One of mine had this recently. I took her for the scan and it turned out to be just a harmless murmur: no abnormality found and once she relaxed it went away. She was actually so relaxed she let them scan her with no sedation!

Mine are sisters and 2 and I was very concerned about what might be found, but it was worth the cost of the scan for the reassurance I got. And if they had found something.... better to know, I suppose.

Thanks. I don't mind the one off cost. We accepted that things like this might come up when we ditched the insurance. However the vet hinted that it was quite an intense murmur and seemed almost certain that it's going to require quite regular monitoring, eek!

I just tell the vet I can't afford it. One new vets wanted my dog to have an MRI for a pulled tummy muscle £3k. I politely declined. They know I'm not insured so don't push it now.

The vet was quite honest and said cat's murmurs don't follow a particular rulebook. They can sound subtle and have severe underlying issues and quite severe but due only to mild issues. If he was an older cat I'd feel more able to politely decline but he's so young. Unfortunately that means more years of paying for this if it does turn out to be sinister!

Can you afford treatment?
There does not seem much point paying for a scan if you can not pay for any subsequent treatment.

So what is the treatment and what is the risk of not having the treatment?

I did ask this. I think the outcomes will either be he's fine but needs monitoring yearly or thereabouts. If they find significant problems eg blood clots he may need medication costing around 20-£40 a month. Not ideal but I would.be willing to pay it if it meant he was happy and healthy for a few years vs dropping dead of a bloodclot in a few months. I asked as directly as I could if the outcome was going to be thousands of pounds worth of surgery or anything daft like that but the vet didn't seem to think so

The risk of treatment is he deteriorates rapidly by which point meds won't help much or he dies suddenly of a blood clot. (I realise the vet will have been scaremongering to a degree)

My old cat had a murmer we never did anything about and he lived to 23. It's not always something to worry about with cats.

Realistically you can either afford the scan and whatever follows or you can't. If you can't, you just hope he's like my old guy and it isn't a big issue for him.

My cat had heart disease. And had loads of scans. Each appointment cost £600-700 she was seen frequently at the beginning but it got a bit more spread out. She was very I'll. not that you'd have ever known it as she was well in herself. She had five types of medication. Think that was about £80 a month.

Both of mine were always scanned with no sedation. The cardiologist said that very few cats actually needed it.

If he does have heart disease. The risk sudden death from
A blood clot is actually very high. Because the heart is not pumping effectively, blood is pooling in the heart.

My cat had a mumur, but we didn't find out until he was about 10.

It never gave him any issues, bless him and he lived until he was 19, so he had a good innings.

A vet really shouldn't be scaremongering to any degree. Especially when you don't have insurance, you should be able to trust your vet to set out the options and likelihood of potential outcomes honesty and openly, without over or under exaggeration, otherwise it makes decisions like these really hard.

Sometimes though I think it's worth spending the money just to know what you are dealing with one way or another.

I don't understand why vet scans are so expensive for one body part. You can have a private scan of your unborn child at 32 different angles for £80. But a scan of your cats liver no that'll be £300.

Fingers crossed he is ok though and it's just minor.

I am a veterinary cardiologist. Murmurs in cats are very unreliable at predicting what sort of heart disease they have, or what stage it is. Some murmurs are harmless dynamic murmurs (yay!), but equally there could be something serious that needs treatment or monitoring to prevent a bad outcome.

You often can't tell which murmurs are harmless and which are serious just by listening unfortunately; it's not scaremongering at all to tell you that, just fact.

The good news from your cat's point of view is that echoes (heart scans) are non-invasive and cats mostly tolerate it very well (I know I go out of my way to make sure all my patients are as relaxed and happy as possible, it's better for us all that way!)

Best of luck with your cat, OP.

I’ve had two cats with a heart murmur. One an Outdoor Feral, who died when she was 5 (it was undiagnosed until she suffered from aortic thromboembolism) and one house cat who died when she was 18+ who had frequent check ups, meds, scans.

It’s a no brainer.

Your vet is not scaremongering about the clots. It was immensely painful and distressing for her and me. It caused paralysis in her hind legs - we thought she had been hit by a car.

Managed cat did very well. The cost of the scans was not too bad as those were once a year initially and 6 monthly towards the end. The daily meds were affordable. (Also didn’t have insurance as she was too old to qualify)

Thanks everyone. To clarify by scaremongering I don't mean I don't think it'll happen I mean the risk is fairly low (I hope). Either way I'm not going to take that risk with a beautiful 3 year old cat (and one of my best buddies 🤣) so we'll be getting the scan. Hopefully it will be reassuring

@Pearfacebananapoop because the people doing the scans are usually unqualified and often misdiagnose important conditions, there are multiple journalists who've looked in to ultrasound scanning. The cost of vet care reflects the costs of the equipment, wages, overheard and most importantly, years of training for the vets to be able to interpret the results.

We've lost sight of how expensive medical care is in the U.K. due to the NHS.

Why do you think you vet is ‘scaremongering’?

it’s the reality of the situation and they have a responsibility to discuss potential consequences with you

you sound rather rude

no one can tell you what kind of murmur it is or what the potential consequences are without further investigation.

And does that private scan of your unborn child diagnose and produce a treatment plan for a potentially serious cardiac condition?

or just generate insta-images?

so do you think their might be a difference in the skill and training of the person doing it?

Do you have a PDSA near you?
If you are on benefits, you can get free or very reduced treatment.

@StylishM @FurAndFeathers my scan was done by a senior midwife and a sonography/radiographer (can't recall which) so two of them and yes it was diagnostic not for Insta thanks (it was 8 years ago so pre Insta but I just checked the price and it's still the same surprisingly whereas some of the dodgier ones come up at £40! I specifically chose one that was operated by medical professionals in case of a problem).
I appreciate vets are highly qualified of course I do but in my experience £300 for a scan that takes them 10 minutes of their time with not even particularly new kit I think is outrageous. Think about that as an hourly rate when you're paying consultation time as well. I have moved vets since this experience for many reasons not just the cost after being with that one as a family for 30 years. My new vets is approx 40% cheaper and far better service too. I don't mind anyone making a profit or charging for their skills but I do object to costs being made up as they go along (one minute an op was £800 the next it was £1500) and essentially feeling distrust and ripped off yes. My new vet is family run whereas my old one has been taken over by a big group. The privately owned ones seem to care more and charges more consistent and better value in my experience. Just my experience. Anyway not about me hope the cat is ok and sorry to derail.

If your cat does need medication you can ask for a written prescription from your vet so you can buy it online, which usually works out cheaper then getting it from the vet directly.