Speedboat has a heart murmur

blueyedgirl5946

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Had my 12 year old guy to the vet today for yearly checkup and shots. The vet says he has a heart murmur. He told us that a full workup with a cardiologist would be $500 - $600. He also told us that the meds didn't always work and that it was harder to treat in a cat than a dog. Because of his age, we have decided to just let him live out his life and not put him through a lot. Just wanted some thoughts and feedback from those of you having experienced this.
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eilcon

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I'm sorry to hear about Speedboat's heart murmur.
Did your vet tell you what grade his murmur is? They're rated on a scale of 1-6 depending on the severity. Heart murmurs in cats can be indicative of an underlying heart problem, however often the cause can't be identified and the cats live a normal, healthy life regardless.

With my male cat, Peter, who just turned 3, my vet detected a grade 2 murmur for the time when he was 9-months-old. After hearing the murmur on two more ocassions and taking xrays which showed that Pete had a slightly enlarged heart, he was referred for a cardiac ultrasound. My vet originally pushed me to take Pete to a feline cardiologist, which would have cost between $500-600. Instead, based on a friend's recommendation, I took Pete to an internist who specializes in feline cardiology, which cost less than half. It was definitely the right thing to do because Pete was diagnosed with HCM (Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy - a gradual thickening of the walls of the heart). Since we caught it early and Pete is young his prognosis is good, although there is no cure. The good news is that it's very mild at this point. Pete takes 1/2 a baby aspirin twice a week to keep his blood thin, and a low dosage of a beta blocker daily to regulate his blood pressure and prevent blood clots. This is mostly preventative for now, but seems to be working because his last ultrasound (he has them annually for now), there had been no further progression of the disease.

Anyway, that's my experience. Hope it helps and that everything works out for Speedboat. Feel free to PM me if you want to talk.
 

cloud_shade

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Did he have bloodwork done? I know we talked about the possibility of hyperthyroidism with him last year because he was having some coat problems. A murmur that appears in a senior kitty is often a symptom/side effect of the thyroid being overworked.
 

beandip

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cloud_shade made a very good point. I'll second that.

As far as costs of the workup go, you might see if there's a vet school in your area that you could go to for the cardiac workup. It may cost less there. Precious' tests were $375, including general exam, echocardiogram, xrays, meds, blood work (which should be done first like cloud_shade said), and a few other things I don't recall at the moment. Precious was born with her heart issues, so the case is a bit different. The outlook looked very bleak at the time, but a twice a day pill has kept her very comfortable and able to be a "normal" cat.
 
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blueyedgirl5946

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Originally Posted by cloud_shade

Did he have bloodwork done? I know we talked about the possibility of hyperthyroidism with him last year because he was having some coat problems. A murmur that appears in a senior kitty is often a symptom/side effect of the thyroid being overworked.
Yes, I remember about last year. I am going to talk to the vet about having his thyroid checked. As for the vet school, the nearest one is hundreds of miles away. But I have been told he needs at least to have thyroid checked.
I will post back on this. He acts wonderful, eats like starving and seems perfectly normal for now.

Anyone, who prays, please do that.
Thanks.
 

blast-off-girl

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My friend's cat, Tan-Tan, was also diagnosed with a heart murmur around age 12. Similar to you, my friend decided to just let Tan-Tan live out her life and didn't want to put her through all this medical stress. Plus, she was a student at the time and couldn't afford the excessive costs.

Amazingly, Tan-Tan is still ALIVE at 17 years old and she never received any medication for the murmur.
 
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blueyedgirl5946

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Originally Posted by Blast-Off-Girl

My friend's cat, Tan-Tan, was also diagnosed with a heart murmur around age 12. Similar to you, my friend decided to just let Tan-Tan live out her life and didn't want to put her through all this medical stress. Plus, she was a student at the time and couldn't afford the excessive costs.

Amazingly, Tan-Tan is still ALIVE at 17 years old and she never received any medication for the murmur.
Thank you so much for this word of encouragement.
 

cloud_shade

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Spot's not the best example because I have no idea how old he was when I found him or how long he had been hyperthyroid, but he too had a murmur. He was with me for 19 months after I found him and put him on medicine--but he may have had that murmur for years and years before he came to live with me. My childhood cat had a murmur for his entire life and lived to the age of 12 without any treatment for it. Both kitties had HCM, and if I had known what I know now, I would look into treatments that might help support their heart, like Coenzyme Q10:

http://www.peteducation.com/article....articleid=1345
 
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