Traveling With A Kitten Who Has Heart Murmur

[Eva01]

I'd like to post on here before I head into the vet, because I like a diversity of opinions.

Anywho, I am moving in about a week, and I have a kitten who has a heart murmur. The doctor said it was like 2, 3, 6? And that he was unable to fix her because they didn't want to risk her dying. He frightened me with a few kitty stories and how they died, was an uncomfortable visit. The kitten was around 5-6 weeks, was terrified of the visit.

She's 6 months now, drinking water and eating fine, playing fine, only pants after a vigorous play session, pink gums, healthy from what I can tell.. (I am taking her into the vet no matter what before the move)

Is an 8 hour drive, and maybe 4 more the next day, going to kill her? ):

 

[Furballsmom]

Are you going to a different vet? Have you had a chance to take her on short trips in the car to acquaint her with it?

 

[susanm9006]

I looked up heart murmur info on the web and found this info on one site

“Soft heart murmurs (grade 1/6 to 2-3/6) can occur in young animals and are of no consequence to them. These types of murmurs are called “innocent” murmurs. They are soft and usually go away by 14 weeks of age.”

Hopefully this is the 2-3/6 that your vet mentioned. I don’t know when she was last at the vet, but this would seem to say that the murmur might even be gone by now, and shouldn’t affect her longevity or her ability to withstand the trip.

 

[Eva01]

Are you going to a different vet? Have you had a chance to take her on short trips in the car to acquaint her with it?

I've only taken her into the car twice, first time was the first vet visit. She was panting super hard, second time, she stayed in my lap the whole time and hid her face inside the blanky I wrapped her in. No panting from that last ride.

I looked up heart murmur info on the web and found this info on one site

“Soft heart murmurs (grade 1/6 to 2-3/6) can occur in young animals and are of no consequence to them. These types of murmurs are called “innocent” murmurs. They are soft and usually go away by 14 weeks of age.”

Hopefully this is the 2-3/6 that your vet mentioned. I don’t know when she was last at the vet, but this would seem to say that the murmur might even be gone by now, and shouldn’t affect her longevity or her ability to withstand the trip.

What! The internet said so many awful things, I thought she was going to die if u threw her ball cause of things that were said about heart murmurs! This sounds like her, since she hasn't shown any other signs of it, besides the panting after playing, but it's only after playing. I'm going to take her in one more time before leaving and see how her heart is doing. Thank you very much for searching that for me (:

 

[susanm9006]

If you haven’t bought one already, I would buy a cat carrier as far in advance of your trip as possible and leave it out so she can explore it and get used to it. You might even try putting her food in it so she associates it with good things. I would strongly recommend a hard sided one so if she pees it is easier to cleanup.

And one you get in the road, don’t open the carrier up. It will be far more stressful for her bouncing around the car that in a safe closed carrier.