Hello there everyone,
I will give you the long story, since I am here already. My kitten is 6 months old. We got her in November and she is the sweetest little thing. When we took her to the vet for her vaccines, the vet noticed a heart murmur. She said kittens normally grow out of this around age 4-5 months. We had her heart checked again and the murmur was still there. The vet recommended we take our kitten to a cardiologist so they can do an EKG and ultrasound on her. The only problem is - the closest cardiologist to us is 5 hours away, which would require a hotel stay, on top of the outrageous amount they charge to see your cat (in total the trip and the cardiologist expenses would be around $2000). I love my kitten so much, but we don't have the money to pay for that. However, the vet said, my kitten could die under anesthetic if she doesn't know what is causing her heart murmur. I understand where the vet is coming from. and I really wish I could afford to have all of this done for my kitten. If something is really wrong with her heart, the $2000 would obviously be worth spending. But there is a huge chance that the cardiologist will say, "your kitten is fine, the heart murmur will not affect her under anesthetic". The vet even agreed, that a lot of times, that does happen. I guess what I am asking here is.... Have you ever had a kitten get spayed or neutered with a heart murmur? And what was the outcome? Please no upsetting comments.. I am really hurting about this and am genuinely looking for responses from people with experiences with this. Thank you so much.
I will give you the long story, since I am here already. My kitten is 6 months old. We got her in November and she is the sweetest little thing. When we took her to the vet for her vaccines, the vet noticed a heart murmur. She said kittens normally grow out of this around age 4-5 months. We had her heart checked again and the murmur was still there. The vet recommended we take our kitten to a cardiologist so they can do an EKG and ultrasound on her. The only problem is - the closest cardiologist to us is 5 hours away, which would require a hotel stay, on top of the outrageous amount they charge to see your cat (in total the trip and the cardiologist expenses would be around $2000). I love my kitten so much, but we don't have the money to pay for that. However, the vet said, my kitten could die under anesthetic if she doesn't know what is causing her heart murmur. I understand where the vet is coming from. and I really wish I could afford to have all of this done for my kitten. If something is really wrong with her heart, the $2000 would obviously be worth spending. But there is a huge chance that the cardiologist will say, "your kitten is fine, the heart murmur will not affect her under anesthetic". The vet even agreed, that a lot of times, that does happen. I guess what I am asking here is.... Have you ever had a kitten get spayed or neutered with a heart murmur? And what was the outcome? Please no upsetting comments.. I am really hurting about this and am genuinely looking for responses from people with experiences with this. Thank you so much.
The vet called me after I dropped my kitty off and asked me what I thought about keeping her intact. She was pushing me to go to a cardiologist. She said there is a chance my cat would need open heart surgery which would cost thousands of dollars. Anyways, I told the vet I needed her spayed and it's been two days and she is doing great. The vet also said her heart was steady and strong throughout the whole surgery!
