Cats with heart murmurs

Posted 8/21/12

You bring your feline companion to the veterinarian for their annual checkup and your trusted veterinary physician notes that Sullivan your cat has a heart murmur. One of the most common questions …

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Cats with heart murmurs

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You bring your feline companion to the veterinarian for their annual checkup and your trusted veterinary physician notes that Sullivan your cat has a heart murmur. One of the most common questions asked is, “What is a heart murmur?”

A heart murmur is an abnormal heart sound that often requires the use of a stethoscope to hear it. Abnormal swirling of blood within the heart causes the sound classified as a heart murmur. Some murmurs can be deemed innocent (non-concerning), while others are pathologic murmurs (ones that affect an animal’s life).

Innocent murmurs are often heard in younger animals and typically resolve by 16 weeks of age. Pathological murmurs are often due to an actual issue with the heart. Murmurs are graded by their intensity and are organized by a scale ranging from one to six. A grade-one heart murmur is very soft or quiet, and the veterinarian must listen very closely in a very quiet room to hear it. A grade-six murmur is very loud and can be heard on both sides of the chest, a vibration felt when you touch the animal’s chest, and even when placing your head near the animal’s chest. The loudness of the murmur reflects only how much turbulence is noted within the heart, and not the severity of the disease. Thus, your cat could have a four-out-of-six heart murmur but have only minor structural issues.

The heart is composed of four chambers: the right atrium, the right ventricle, the left atrium and the left ventricle. Blood flows from the right side of the heart to the lungs then back to the left side of the heart. After the blood leaves the left ventricle it then travels to the rest of the body starting from the aorta. In cats, most of the structural issues occur on the left side of the heart and can include leaky heart values, a thickening or narrowing of a valve or blood vessel, or an abnormal hole between the heart chambers.

Heart murmurs are dynamic, meaning that they can be heard today and not tomorrow. For this reason, is it very important to have your cat examined on a regular basis. Once a murmur is detected, your veterinarian will discuss with you some of the symptoms of heart disease. In cats, clinical signs may be very subtle and not very clear at times, until the disease becomes very advanced. The most common clinical sings include lethargy/weakness after running or playing, not being very active, increased breathing rate, pale gums and potentially weight loss.

If any of these clinical signs are noted, it is important at a minimum to have baseline blood work done, to be sure there are no other organ diseases going on. Other diagnostic tools of great help include X-rays as well as an echocardiogram and heart sonogram. The sonogram is the best test to identify all the heart values and chambers. A skilled veterinarian can even measure the speed of the blood traveling through the heart and identify the underlying problem.

Annual examinations are very important not only for vaccinations but also to ensure that your pet is in the best of health. Heart disease can have a better outcome if diagnosed and treated early as well as allowing for fewer incurred expenses. If your cat is showing any of these clinical signs, be sure to schedule an appointment with a veterinarian.

[Contact Dr. D’Abbraccio at www.facebook.com/CatskillVeterinaryServices, www.catskillvetservices.com, or jdabbracciodvm@icloud.com.]

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