7 year old cat with grade 4 heart murmur

sammyrae

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So I took both my girls into the vet the other day and found out my 7 year old hs a grade 4 heart murmur (on a 1-6 scale). Now, we don't know what is causing the murmur and an echocardiogram is 600 dollars and 3 hours away. Do I have any other options to help my baby girl?
 

andrya

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l have no experience with cats, but when my little dog had a 3.5 found, we had x-rays taken which showed an enlarged heart.

l'm not sure if an x-ray would find other things, likely not. 
 

stephenq

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So I took both my girls into the vet the other day and found out my 7 year old hs a grade 4 heart murmur (on a 1-6 scale). Now, we don't know what is causing the murmur and an echocardiogram is 600 dollars and 3 hours away. Do I have any other options to help my baby girl?
I'm sorry to hear this.  Not good news.  Some cats develop serious heart illness with no murmur at all, and others can have a murmur but no disease.  One option is to watch and wait and see if it changes, but the next step to a diagnosis really is an echo.

here are 2 websites on heart murmurs and descriptions of them.  Read them carefully and you will be ask your vet exactly what type of murmur he thinks it is.

http://www.petmd.com/cat/conditions/cardiovascular/c_ct_heart_murmur

http://www.vcahospitals.com/main/pe...icle/animal-health/heart-murmurs-in-cats/3913
 
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