Fable's got a heart murmur

We just got back from taking Fable to the vets for his vaccinations, when the vet checked him over she said he had a heart murmur. He's also still overweight and has only lost a tiny bit or weight which I guess is better than him putting more on. The vet wasn't very nice either, not our usual vet and she's made me feel like a terrible mum just by the way she came over.

So now I'm back to square one with his weight and I'm worried about this heart murmur. Any advice on the murmur?

Did the vet recommend that he undergo further testing from a vet cardiologist? There are different grades of heart murmurs, ranging from very mild on up. And there are a variety of causes. Murmurs are fairly common in cats, and many live their whole lives without any ill effects or even needing further tests. But some do... it depends on what your vet said.

No she just said that they'd keep an eye on him and not to worry...

That sounds good, then. I wouldn't worry. My family had a cat who had a heart murmur but didn't need testing; he lived to 15 and never had heart problems.

Ok, thanks for that, you've made me feel a bit better.

How old is your Cat? Meeko has one but it isnt real bad. She has had it since she was a Kitten and she will be 8 next week.

Fable's going to be 3 on the 8th, I'm glad Meeko is doing ok.

My Lily has a heart murmur. She was two years old when we got her from the shelter 2.5 years ago, it was a grade 3 according to our vet. She had come from a couple who were divorcing, and they surrendered three other cats and two dogs (!), so I think she went through some stress. Our home is pretty low-key, and she gets lots of love, and her murmur has been slowly healing up. At her two-year checkup, our vet said her murmur is now a .5, she can barely hear it.

The fact that Fable is overweight means that the murmur must not be too bad. According to our vet, when it is bad they have trouble keeping weight on. I hope your little one has a steady increase in health.

That is true they lose weight. Coco had teh Echo Heart Test 2 years ago because a bad Vet said her heart was tilted and she had Lung Cancer. It was Asthma and her Heart was fine. Meeko last Blood Tests were in Dec and they all were pretty good. Your Cat can live a long time with the problem. My Meeko almost died at 3 Months and weighed 1 pound. The Er Vet saved her. It was not from the Heart Murmur. Does your Cat play alot? Try to help him to lose some weight.

You guys are great! He's a very lazy cat but he's getting a bit more active and he chases Jupey around, or Jupey chases him more like. He's not really into playing like he used to be before Jupey came along, he watches more usually. He takes after his dad for sitting around a lot!

What can cause these heart murmurs then?

Alot of things can cause them. Meeko was very sick as a Kitten so that could be what caused hers. She still plays. My Coco was obese when she was younger. Now she is 16 and is only 7 pounds. We would like her to weigh 8 pounds.

How come the vet said that sometimes you'll be able to hear the murmur and sometimes you wont? She didn't explain much at all even when I asked.
I'm concerned about this not only for my cat but because my sister was told that my nephew has a heart murmur but when she went back to the doctors they said it had gone. Could it be that the doctors wont always hear the heart murmur and that he might still have it?

I can ask Vet about that. My Vet did tell me sometimes obese Cats will have a Murmur but it will go away if they lose weight.

I don't know about humans, but, yes, in cats, it can be the case that sometimes a murmur is audible and sometimes it's not. You might hear the murmur more when the cat is scared and its heart is beating faster, for example.

I don't know about humans, but in kittens heart murmurs are pretty common, says our vet, and they usually heal up and the murmur (which is a hole in the heart) is then gone.

Murmurs aren't holes in the heart. They're a sound caused by a number of heart irregularities, most commonly abnormal heart passages or narrowed or leaky valves. The blood flows irregularly through these places and causes the heart murmur.

Murmurs in kittens do often go away on their own.