Heart murmur & thyroid issues elderly cat

[Fluffycloudsfloatinginthesky]

My cat has had well controlled thyroid issues for a couple of years.

She has been losing fur recently and had lost a little weight.

The last couple of weeks she has lost a significant amount of weight and has started hiding away. Took her to the vets today and she has a heart murmur (grade 4/6 maybe) she is breathing very heavily and panted a little in way home when she was stressed.

Having done bloods her thyroid levels are up so medication for that has been doubled.

Next steps are heart scan and cardiologist, but I was a bit upset when I had appointment so didn't ask as much as I should and now they are shut

Does anyone know having had the scan what options are for next steps? I cannot see she could get through a heart op so is it medication? She also needs some teeth removing and they suggested she may not be strong enough for a GA for that. They are not sure if it's painful eating with the gum issue and that's why she's off food even with thyroid issues.

I have the money put aside to pay for the scan but just need to understand what the point of it is if she cannot have an op - are there medications that will benefit heart problems.

My cats had lots of heart scans. The one with severe HCM was treated with medication.

How old is your cat OP?

I think a lot depends on your cats age and how much treatment will improve quality of life.

She is just coming up 16.

At sixteen I really wouldn't be putting her through anything invasive or that requires any kind of anaesthetic.

It sounds like she's got quite a few health issues and it may be kinder to have her put to sleep

I’m so sorry - it’s really shit.

No agree @fieldsofbutterflies

I have sent an email to the vets with questions.

Heart scan is £1k, it's fine it is what it is but what will be the outcome of it.

And if she's not stable enough for ga to have teeth out and they are causing her pain then what's the point in going through the heart scan as no medication will resolve the eating issue.

I'm very sorry OP but I think my approach would be that of @fieldsofbutterflies as well.
16 is a very good age for cat. With existing problems I'd be thinking very seriously about euthanasia too.
💐

As far as I’m aware, heart scans require sedation at a minimum which I also wouldn’t be keen to put a 16yo through.

I would be inclined to give her a final few days with all the things she loves and then say goodbye peacefully while she still has a reasonable quality of life.

As they say, better a week too soon than a day too late.

I had mine PTS at just over 17. It sucks.

It's crap.

I spoke to vet and we are going to give her some painkillers and an appetite stimulant and see what happens. They cannot do the teeth op until her thyroid levels are down and they won't know that for 3 weeks, as she's had about 5 mouthfuls of food since home that's not really an option.

She seems so tired today that I think I know what the answer needs to be but we will just see if the tablets do anything. Then I know I have tried.

She has perked up a tiny bit, had a conversation with another vet practice to talk options - sent some videos etc. I decided to go ahead with heart scan.

My vets said if I wanted it tomorrow it would be a 2 hour round trip or I had to wait until next Friday when their cardiac vet was back from holiday. I decided against the 2 hour round trip as she was so stressed I don't think she could cope with it.

I decided to try another vets close to me who were great and she is booked in for Tuesday. She is a little perkier today so hoping I can get enough food and water in her to keep her going until then.

As a bonus the nearby vets are anything from 30-50% cheaper for the scan than my vets. So I may move her anyway.

So just an update. I decided to go ahead with the scan. She had it and had fluid on her chest which has been drained.

She ate a whole pouch of food in the vets and is back home - she walked all the way from the hall to the garden. Both is things she hasn't done for a week so fingers crossed she's recovering.

My 10 yr old cat has been diagnosed with a heart murmur and the vets want to do a scan but I'm worried about the price and what will happen as a result of the scan. How is your cat doing?

@Footballmum24 I had to have her put to sleep. She turned out to have fluid around her heart, they drained it once but it came back.

Oh and do maybe ring somewhere for second option in the price - I wasn't happy with regular cats for several reason relating to this and I moved her to a different one for the scan. It was about 30% cheaper!

My cat had tests for this and it was about 1000 for all the tests. Luckily we have insurance. He was young though. In the end it was just an elongated heart valve so the blood was swishing around it creating the whoosh. Do you have insurance?