Heart murmur

Charlie was only diagnosed a couple so years ago, but he is eight years old. I wondered if anyone here also has a cat or other pet/s with a heart murmur? We weren't told to lessen excercise or anything like that, just make sure he doesn't get too chubby. Is it bad for him to run around alot. He is going stir crazy even when i let him into the enclosure, he wants to come back into the house. But when hes in the house he wants to go out again, so he runs up and down the hall. Unlike the other house we have polished floorboards instead of just carpet. So he will zoom up and down, and narrowly miss the corners of the lounge, he doesnt slow down. I am worried it may bring on stress or an attack, as he is already stressed about no longer having jazzy

Anyone here have experience with this?



Emma.

I have a heart murmur. Heart murmurs are strange, because they are unique compared to others' heartbeats, but completely normal to the body of whoever has it. It doesn't restrain me from doing anything. I'm on my highschool soccer team.

I had a cat with cardiomyopathy and one of the signs for that disease was a heart murmor. When I read up on the topic, I learned that there are many reasons for heart murmors, some of them being more serious than others.

I'm not a vet, but in order to even begin to speculate on an answer to your question, we would need to know what the underlying cause is for the murmor. Did the vet run any additional tests to find out what is causing it? Did they put the cat on any medications to control it? How far have you gone with it with your vet?

I can only speak of what I learned about cardiomyopathy. That particular disease hits primarly male cats aged 8-10. Depending on how severe it is and how early you catch it, it can usually be controlled thru medication. Unfortunately, many cats first show signs of it only after the heart is damaged. In the case of my Tigger, he had a thrombosis (a blood clot that clogged blood flow to his back legs) and our first sign was that he was lame. Because they couldn't detect the heart murmor for a few weeks, he was inproperly diagnosed at first (they thought he hurt himself playing).

Proper diagnosis of any heart problems can be very expensive, as it usually involves MRI's and other expensive tests. But without them, you really don't know if any specific treatment is necessary, nor if there are any dietary or activity limitations you should use. If you have the money to get some further testing done, then I suggest that you do it. If your vet doesn't have the ability to run those tests (and most vets do not), then get a referral to a specialist.

Did your vet mention what grade of heart murmur Charlie house? Murmurs are graded from 1 to 6 based on the severity. A murmur isn't really cause for concern unless a kitty is showing other signs of heart problems, such as
cardiac cough, lethargy, poor appetite or fluid in the lungs/heart. Murmurs can be a symptom of underlying heart disease, though, so it may be worthwhile asking your vet if additional testing (xrays and a cardiac ultrasound) is in order.

My male cat, Peter, who's not quite three, has a grade 2 murmur. Because xrays showed is heart is slightly enlarged, my vet recommended he have a cardiac ultrasound, which resulted in a diagnosis of mild HCM. Pete's now on daily medication and his heart is currently functioning normally. He's not showing any other symptoms for now. My vet did emphasize the importance of keep Pete's stress level down and ensuring he's on a good quality food, but said not to worry about his activity level, which is good thing because Pete's a typical crazy young cat. I wouldn't worry about Charlie unless your vet says otherwise.

Sending lots of vibes for you and Charlie. Please feel free to PM me if you ever want to chat or need more info about heart murmurs/heart disease.

My RB cat Sphinx had a heart murmur - grade 3. (He passed away from cancer). Our vet just monitored him every time he came in for a visit and had us watch for anything unusual - panting, laboured breathing, sudden loss/weakness of his legs, etc. We also let him play on his own terms and made sure he rested when he needed to. Mind you he wanted to play hard and would run throughout the apartment at a fast pace - you'd never he was over 15 years old.

It would be a good idea to follow up with a specialtist if you haven't already done that for him.

My 10 year old cat (Meggie) has a heart murmur that showed up last year. Our vet (who has a dog with a congenital heart defect, same as my dog) said to just watch for signs of a problem and that we will just continue to monitor it. Apparently, it is not that uncommon in senior cats. Meggie's is a grade 2.

Dino has a heart murmur he's a senior now over 13yr, but he is very well, he doesn't jump about like a kitten anymore, but I wouldn't expect that from a senior anyway.

He has the occasional roll around with his cat-nip toys and he can hold his own when Teddy decides to have a scuffle with him

Our vet always checks him over when he has his annual visit.