Heart murmur - 10 week old kitten

[frankiecatsle]

I took our new kitten to the vet today for his first checkup since getting him last week. Prognosis? Not good. They discovered a heart murmur and after listening and an ultrasound, rated it a 5. They're holding off on his vaccines for now and have scheduled another appointment when he's 16 weeks old for his rabies shot and then they'll do another ultrasound and most definitely refer us to a cat cardiologist. The vet didn't flat out say "hi, your kitten is doomed" but it was in his voice. He did make it extremely clear though that the prognosis, assuming it doesn't improve and he's correct in his rating, is very much grim.

Does anyone have experience with a heart murmur this bad? Everyone I talk to, their cats only had small murmurs. I'm trying to come to terms with this news and while it's definitely still up in the air...eh. Trying to prepare myself for the worst.

He also said it's likely they wouldn't neuter him if it's as bad as they suspect. Is that normal? IDK, I'm just a mess right now. He seemed surprised that our kitten even had as much energy as he has because of how severe the murmur sounded. Ugh.

 

[Furballsmom]

Hi!

Do you have an opportunity to see a different vet for a second opinion?

He also said it's likely they wouldn't neuter him if it's as bad as they suspect. Is that normal?

From what I'm reading, yes.

 

[35 year catdad]

BOY DO I KNOW ALL ABOUT a heart murmer in a kitten.
We fostered 4 kittens from a high kill shelter and just had to keep Romeow the runt. He was lower energy than the rest and would fall asleep in his food as a kitten. He was very muscular later on and seemed fine and the vet said 80% of the time they do ok without meds so we took our chances...
Well at 6 yrs old he was pulling himself across the carpet crying with no back legs working so I rushed him in to a local vet. Thank God i was home!!!

It was a saddle clot and the end of poor Romeow my first boycat. His widow was sad for 18 months till I found an identical boy cat Martin and they have been a loving couple ever since! Shes now 19 (a tortie) and Martin is about 14. Here they are peeing together for first time yesterday. Enjoy every day with your kitten and maybe try and keep someone home with him if you can cause saddle clots and no blood to the legs is EXTREMELY painful. Good luck.
I would stay away from any cat food that is inflammatory? Mine have never had corn and it shows in their health. Zero medical problems for either one and they are 33 yrs old combined age. I made sure before adopting Martin that the shelter had his heart checked out before adopting him.Not sure but I think Romeows murmur was a 5 or 6.Martin has a white tip on his tail which helps him play with it in the dark

 

[frankiecatsle]

Hi!

Do you have an opportunity to see a different vet for a second opinion?


From what I'm reading, yes.

Yeah, we already have plans to get a second opinion. The vet is actually a new vet (to us) that we don't use for our other cats but our normal vet didn't have an early enough appointment so we went to this one who came highly recommended. I'll call my vet on Monday to schedule an appointment but they probably won't be able to get him in until September which will be around the same time as his recheck. Maybe it sounds awful but when he first mentioned hearing a heart murmur and wanting to do an ultrasound I wondered if it was an excuse just to run an unneeded test, but the new vet didn't even charge me for anything other than the typical exam fee, FLV tests, and his flea meds. So yeah, I think they were coming from a good place.

I'm just feeling crappy. I was not expecting this little guy to have issues like this. I mentioned in another thread I made about his litter box that I knew the situation he was coming from wasn't great but it feels like the hits just keep on coming.

BOY DO I KNOW ALL ABOUT a heart murmer in a kitten.
We fostered 4 kittens from a high kill shelter and just had to keep Romeow the runt. He was lower energy than the rest and would fall asleep in his food as a kitten. He was very muscular later on and seemed fine and the vet said 80% of the time they do ok without meds so we took our chances...
Well at 6 yrs old he was pulling himself across the carpet crying with no back legs working so I rushed him in to a local vet. Thank God i was home!!!

It was a saddle clot and the end of poor Romeow my first boycat. His widow was sad for 18 months till I found an identical boy cat Martin and they have been a loving couple ever since! Shes now 19 (a tortie) and Martin is about 14. Here they are peeing together for first time yesterday. Enjoy every day with your kitten and maybe try and keep someone home with him if you can cause saddle clots and no blood to the legs is EXTREMELY painful. Good luck.
I would stay away from any cat food that is inflammatory? Mine have never had corn and it shows in their health. Zero medical problems for either one and they are 33 yrs old combined age. I made sure before adopting Martin that the shelter had his heart checked out before adopting him.Not sure but I think Romeows murmur was a 5 or 6.Martin has a white tip on his tail which helps him play with it in the dark

I'm so sorry that happened to your boy, that sounds terrifying! At least he had you there for him. I'm afraid of what our future holds, tbh.

This is our Watson today at the vet. The bad news didn't stop him from using me as a scratching post.

 

[mrsgreenjeens]

Sometimes young kittens will outgrow heart murmurs, although not usually stage 5 But it could actually be caused by something else, as discussed in this article: Heart Murmurs in Cats Of course, since he is new to you, you may not know if some of the things mentioned in there actually apply. Let's just hope when he goes back in 6 weeks that it has improved greatly

OH, and I just found this thread about a 12 week old kitten wtih a stage 5 murmur caused by an issue with the heart that was fixed by surgery! There isn't much to it, but gives one hope: PDA and heart murmur

 

[Furballsmom]

 

[35 year catdad]

We trusted this vet and he had I think thirty plus yrs in business
with tons of patients so he didnt need more income. I think this site
will do you well! Hes adorable and maybe part flame point Siamese?
Siamese are known to be very long lived and I hope its in the cards for you. We had one that lived to be 19 . She never ate a bite of wet food and we tried them all. Best of luck to you and your cutie! So the looong answer to a short question is no just one opinion. I too had a murmur as a kid and healthy as a horse at age 67 must have outgrown it? Ask vets
about natural c lot prevention diets? maybe fish oil but only molecularly distilled = no mercury. Heres an idea if youn eed help with the vet bills
put a post in craigslist for help with a special needs kitty and be amazed
at the goodness of humankind! Lots of wealthy cat lovers out there!