Bit long I'm afraid. Recently I've noticed pale blood in the cat's fur in areas she was grooming. She was showing no other signs and is eating and acting normally. Thinking this was a skin condition I looked in the areas but could see nothing so decided on a trip to the vet at the weekend. Last night I noticed blood seeping from her mouth, so this explained the areas of pink fur where she is grooming. The bleeding was mild and lasted about 3 minutes. So, we took her last night to a 24-hour cat hospital which we have a few miles away to an emergency vet. He examined her mouth and throat but could not find any immediate problem. There is some gum inflammation and a little dried blood there, and he believes the source of the blood is either teeth or gums. So, she is off for dental treatment.
The thing with this cat though is that when we took her as a kitten to have her jabs, the vet mentioned she had a heart murmur, and that she probably had a hole in the heart as this was a known common thing with cats. They warned she might exhibit breath shortness and possibly suffer heart related death. She is now 13 years old, has never struggled for breath and has always been as active, if not more, than our other two cats (of exactly the same age). When she goes for her annual health check-ups, sometimes the vet can hear the murmur and sometimes they can't - so it's never presented any problems or symptoms in her.
I am a little concerned though that because of this what are the risks with general anaesthetic and how concerned should I be, given that dental treatment will presumably mean she needs a general. Or is there an alternative sedation method for dental work ?
Thanks for any advice.
The thing with this cat though is that when we took her as a kitten to have her jabs, the vet mentioned she had a heart murmur, and that she probably had a hole in the heart as this was a known common thing with cats. They warned she might exhibit breath shortness and possibly suffer heart related death. She is now 13 years old, has never struggled for breath and has always been as active, if not more, than our other two cats (of exactly the same age). When she goes for her annual health check-ups, sometimes the vet can hear the murmur and sometimes they can't - so it's never presented any problems or symptoms in her.
I am a little concerned though that because of this what are the risks with general anaesthetic and how concerned should I be, given that dental treatment will presumably mean she needs a general. Or is there an alternative sedation method for dental work ?
Thanks for any advice.
