Hey guys...I'm not sure what your vet has told you, but I just wanted to pass on our past experience with heart murmurs in cats.
When our first British Shorthair (Penny) was a couple years old the vet said she had a bad heart murmur. They wanted to do an ultrasound. Like good little pet owners we agreed without asking alot of questions. They took Penny for two days to send her to a lab that could do the test. When we got our half shaved cat back, we were told that she had Cardio Myopathy (degenerative heart disease). When we asked about treatment they said there was none, that Penny would live for 6 months to 2 years and likely die of heart failure peacefully and without pain. Now we were kind of pissed because we had paid $400 for a useless diagnosis and a half shaved cat. 6 months later her heart murmur was gone! She died at about age 13.
This experience taught us to make sure that we understood exactly what a vet is looking for, what the treatment would be, and that we were willing to do the treatment, before we authorize any tests.
Our further research into heart murmurs in cats indicated that many cats suffer from heart murmurs do to a shortage of Taurine (crude protein) in their diet. Since then we have always been careful to use a cat food that has the highest possible levels of Taurine (they very greatly). Generally our cats don't seem to suffer from heart related problems, though all the British Shorthairs have heart murmurs.
Take this for what you will. I just wanted to pass on our experience with this feline issue.
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timeasmymeasure
Cat with heart murmur
Date: 2010-03-07 10:06 pm (UTC)When our first British Shorthair (Penny) was a couple years old the vet said she had a bad heart murmur. They wanted to do an ultrasound. Like good little pet owners we agreed without asking alot of questions. They took Penny for two days to send her to a lab that could do the test. When we got our half shaved cat back, we were told that she had Cardio Myopathy (degenerative heart disease). When we asked about treatment they said there was none, that Penny would live for 6 months to 2 years and likely die of heart failure peacefully and without pain. Now we were kind of pissed because we had paid $400 for a useless diagnosis and a half shaved cat. 6 months later her heart murmur was gone! She died at about age 13.
This experience taught us to make sure that we understood exactly what a vet is looking for, what the treatment would be, and that we were willing to do the treatment, before we authorize any tests.
Our further research into heart murmurs in cats indicated that many cats suffer from heart murmurs do to a shortage of Taurine (crude protein) in their diet. Since then we have always been careful to use a cat food that has the highest possible levels of Taurine (they very greatly). Generally our cats don't seem to suffer from heart related problems, though all the British Shorthairs have heart murmurs.
Take this for what you will. I just wanted to pass on our experience with this feline issue.
I hope kitty is OK!