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Oct
Further testing can determine whether your pet needs treatment. Depending on the cause of the heart murmurs the outlook ranges.
Are there less problematic anesthetics that can be used for a cat with a heart murmer.
Can cats live with a heart murmur. What Is The Life Expectancy Of A Cat With A Heart Murmur. The life expectancy depends on the cause of the murmur. Cats with benign or innocent murmurs will have a normal life span while cats with heart murmurs caused by life threatening structural defects of the heart may only live for months or a few years.
In some cases sudden death of affected cats can even occur. The life expectancy of a cat with a heart murmur will depend on the underlying issue that caused this condition. Most cats with innocent murmurs normally live long happy lives.
Those that suffered from extracardiac health problems and structural heart diseases also have good chances of having prolonged lives. Heart murmurs in cats may be related to structural heart disease. 1 Your cat may have been born with a heart defectknown as congenital heart diseasesuch as pulmonic stenosis or patent ductus arteriosus.
Its also possible that your cat acquired heart disease later in life. Many healthy cats with a heart murmur never develop any problems with their heart and go on to lead long happy and healthy lives. The prognosis depends on the cause of the heart murmur.
Heart murmurs are graded 1-6 with 1 being of the least concern and 6 being of the most concern. Cats with severe heart murmur accompanied by other conditions can also live for years if they respond to treatment. Different types of heart murmur can be diagnosed based on the echocardiogram results and the exact treatment varies for individual cats.
While you can expect your cat to live its life span with heart murmur the life expectancy reduces to about 6-18 months if it develops congestive heart failure from heart murmur. Heart murmurs are very common in cats one study shows more than one third of cats have a heart murmur. Although a murmur may signify a problem with the heart or its blood vessels approximately fifty per cent of healthy cats with a heart murmur dont have any underlying disease and of those that do many live quite normally without ever developing any signs of disease.
Conversely a number of cats without a murmur do. Many dogs and cats with heart murmurs will live long happy healthy lives. They may never need treatment for heart disease.
For some the murmur can indicate something more serious. Further testing can determine whether your pet needs treatment. Murmurs are simply an abnormality in the sound of the heart.
Many cats live their entire lives with murmurs that cause no problems and in fact a murmur may only be detected through routine vet checkups. Murmurs can be congenital meaning the cat is born with it or a cat can. Yes there are different reasons for heart murmurs just as Petnurse explained I was also told that cats can get a heart condition that thickens the heart and if this is detected early enough then this can be controlled with drugs.
My cat had an ultrasound scan to determine the cause which I believe was a faulty valve. An innocent or physiologic heart murmur is a heart murmur that has no impact on the cats health An innocent or physiologic heart murmur is a heart murmur that has no impact on the cats health. One type of innocent heart murmur is often found in young growing kittens particularly kittens that are growing rapidly.
The murmur may first appear at 6-8 weeks of age and a kitten with an innocent heart murmur. Lets see what we can do to help you. First of all we know a cat that has a mild heart murmur grade 1-2 of 6 who is able to get his teeth cleaned and any necessary extractions at a clinic that specializes in veterinary dentistry.
You dont say how severe Rockies heart murmur is but wed imagine its moderate to. He can be very jumpy and will hide when friends visit or the doorbell rings. During his last checkup our vet detected what might be a quiet heart murmur.
What Causes Heart Murmurs in Cats. A heart murmur can indicate a disease of the heart muscle called cardiomyopathy which is the most commonly acquired heart disease in cats says Bliss. Studies suggest that 30 to 50 percent of cats with a murmur have structural heart disease 1 she says.
With structural heart disease there is some sort of abnormal structure or defect that is disturbing the. The vet says she cannot do this because the cat has a heart murmer. Are there less problematic anesthetics that can be used for a cat with a heart murmer.
I took my 8 week old Russian Blue kitten for a check up after delivery from the breeder. My Vet told me that she has a heart murmur. If your vet hears a heart murmur when listening to your cats heart it will be like a swishing noise.
Heart murmurs arent necessarily pathological but they arent normal either. They are caused by a quantity of blood that is turbulent and that is already in the heart or is exiting through the large cardiac vessels. Depending on the cause of the heart murmurs the outlook ranges.
Those diagnosed with innocent murmurs live healthy and normal lives and require no recovery and minimal management beyond routine examinations. If your vet has prescribed any medication then it is best to take it as directed even if your cat appears to be in good health. Sometimes cats have murmurs when theyre kittens and then grow out of them as adults perhaps because some structure within the heart repairs itself as the kitten develops.
But in order to find out exactly why Mica has a heart murmur your vet is going to have to do some diagnostic tests including chest X-rays Doppler studies and an echocardiogram.