My cat has a heart murmur

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Hello. My cat (female, 9.5 years old) had a vet appointment today, just her annual check up and vaccinations.

The vet told my husband that she has a heart murmur. The vet said we should consider whether we want a scan done but it's "very expensive", sadly he did not ask how much! She's insured though so am not too worried about cost.

I'll make further enquiries about a scan but am now very worried. She's very much 'my' cat and my absolute shadow whether I'm at home.

Anyone got any experience of a hear murmur in an older cat? Any reassurance or advice gratefully received!

Photo for cat tax.

I had a cat with a heart murmur. She lived to be 21.

My cat has a heart murmur. He’s had it since birth. He’s now 12 years old and he’s very lazy, but fine.

Oh, that's very reassuring! Did she have it all her life or was it diagnosed later?

Thank you, that's reassuring. My cat is also pretty lazy!

My cat has one too. They did a scan at a cost of £700 two years ago. I was insured too but still had to pay excess/contribution. All for them to tell me...he has a heart murmur and to keep an eye on him

He is fine, he is snoring on his bed next to me at the age of 13, and still terrorises the local rats and disappears for hours on end. I personally wouldn't have the scan given my time again.

I was told my cat needed an expensive scan and further tests etc etc. she seemed perfectly fine to me so I didn’t bother and this was 12 years ago

One of my boys has a heart murmur, diagnosed when I got him at five months. He’s eight now and it doesn’t seem to have affected him in any way.

One of mine has a heart murmur. They mentioned a £700 scan but also said that would only be necessary if it gets worse.

They recommended an app to me called Cardalis. It’s free, and meant for dogs but you can use it for cats too. You wait until they are relaxed/asleep and then monitor how many breaths they take in 30 seconds. I do it about once a month and so far the graph is pretty much a straight line. If he starts breathing more quickly I could take him in and show them the graph. Might be worth a look.

Thank you - I will have a look at that.

Mine lived for 16 years with a heart murmur. Never caused any problems at all. It was his kidneys that got him in the end

Our dog had a heart scan late last year. It was 950. They found he has a very mild murmur

One of ours has a heart murmur and it doesn't seem to affect her in any way. Diagnosed at a checkup when we got her several years ago. She's around 15 (not sure as rescue) and she'll happily jump the 6ft fence in our garden, and is well feisty enough to boss the big boys around.

Have they said what grade heart murmur? As that will make a difference. My 16 year old boy has had a grade 2 since he was about 2.

I agree with @nerysneedle ...find out what grade of murmur it is. My cat has a grade 1 murmur and she's fine, my vet didn't suggest scans, she just gets a check up every 6 months

She was quite young when it was diagnosed at a routine check.

My cat had what was described as a minor heart murmur, diagnosed at 6. He had to be put to sleep at 7. We weren't offered any scans as was so minor, then one day we woke up and he couldn't breath. Find out what grade it is. Could he of just been stressed putting extra pressure on his heart?

My dog had a heart murmur. Never caused any issues. In fact I have one too!

My 18 year has a heart murmur. I’ve been told to watch out for breathlessness

I also use the Cardalis app (for my dog). It’s a really good way for you to monitor your cat’s heart murmur, it’s free, and totally non invasive.

My 11 year cat has a heart murmur, I was told they are quite common in cats and can come and go. I did a blood test to see if he had any heart disease, which he doesn't. So they said if he is well in himself dont worry and they just monitor it at the vets.

My 19 year old cat was said to have a heart murmur at the appointment just before we left the UK. She's still going strong.

When I mentioned it to the vet here they scoffed slightly at the diagnosis without imaging.

https://www.vettimes.com/news/vets/small-animal-vets/heart-murmurs-in-cats-detection-methods-and-useful-next-steps

My cat had a heart murmur, lived until he was 22. We never bothered with a scan, as they could do nothing with it anyway!

Our 18 year old cat has one. Never had a scan as she's been perfectly fine. The vet asked if she ever got out of breath, but as all she ever does is saunter slowly between her bed, food bowl and litter tray - which are all in the same room - it is difficult to tell. She's happy and her bloods are fine. I'm more worried about her thyroid than her heart.

We would usually offer a blood test for cardiac biomarkers (feline proBNP) which is a non invasive way to assess if the heart is under stress. If the result is normal then we don’t worry, if it’s high we recommend an ultrasound scan. The common cause of heart disease in cats is hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (thickening of the heart muscle) which predisposes to clots. Risk of sudden death from a clot going to the heart vessels or the brain or euthanasia from a clot affecting the back legs can be reduced with medication. There’s a newly approved medication in the USA to treat (rather than reduce clot risk) HCM which is likely to be available here soon so there are things that can be done.

My cat was initially diagnosed with a heart murmur. He went in for a variety of tests luckily on insurance which cost about one thousand. It turned out it was not a murmur but that one of the valves was a bit longer than it should be and the blood was swirling around this bit creating the noise. No other vet had commented on this and has not since.